The Way of Warriors
by Escollido
Summary: "The only thing we know is that a war is coming and that we're not about to stand back and let New York fall because we were too proud or too scared to ask for help."
1. Chapter 1

Officer Spencer scratched his head in obvious confusion. He was watching the creature through the one-sided mirror, giving his mind a minute to catch up with what it was seeing. He´d heard of them. Everyone on the Force knew the story. He had personally been supporting them secretly. But cheering on a legend is very different from cheering on true vigilantes, so no, he hadn´t believed they were real, only joked around a few times with the guys.

But if it was true, which his eyes were telling him it was, then that meant that potential monsters were loose in the city and that was very different. He was absolutely amazed they´d even caught one. He´d heard it all. They could turn invisible, be but voices in the shadows. They had the strength of ten men and they could sense crime before it happened.

But was he looking at some hero in disguise? Or a mindless monster?

Well, his boys had been quite persistent that it wasn't a costume. They´d apparently thoroughly examined it and despite his protests that it couldn´t possibly be a walking turtle, they´d insisted.

And that _was_ what he was looking at right now.

His ten-year old son would have laughed at him if he told him that he had met an almost six foot humanoid turtle. His wife would insist he quit his job.

But being the professional he was, he decided to ignore the fact that he was watching a big turtle getting comfortable in a chair, as if it was aware that it would be there for a while and that there was nothing it could do until then. He was also going to ignore the painfully obvious animal traits.

Because he had been told to interrogate the thing and he was going to do his job.

But did it even talk? According to a file he had been handed earlier, containing all sightings, which were few, and all the locations of tied up criminals, who were many, it was _believed_ that they _might_ be able to talk.

Other than that there was no useful information. Guess he´d have to find out himself.

"Shouldn´t we let the zoo handle this one?" a voice from his left spoke. It was an old colleague of his, Cooper. They´d been in the academy together. They´d worked together for years, yet he hadn´t changed the slightest.

"He´s not an animal," a younger man insisted. He was much newer at this, young Johnny. Fresh from the academy and thrown right into an under-cover operation. No one had believed him when he had told his tale.

"Oh yeah, he saved you, didn´t he? Your first under-cover mission and you failed. Made up some story-" Copper muttered the last part, mockery not distant in his voice. Johnny ignored his tone.

"I don´t know if it was him. But it was one of_ them_. If not for them, I wouldn´t be here today. I just…" he gestured helplessly towards the creature. "But they´re not criminals."

Spencer decided not to join their discussion. He believed Johnny, simply because he had nothing to gain from telling the story. Apparently, when they´d discovered that Johnny wasn´t one of the criminals, they´d gotten him out of there, effectively saving his life. But who´s to say that _they _and _that_ is the same thing?

He turned his attention back to the creature, trying to get an idea of what he was dealing with. Even though it appeared to be calm, it was obvious that it was very aware and that it could be up and about in no time. Its eyes had only just closed, hiding surprisingly deep, brown, much too human-like eyes. The shell caused it to sit a bit awkwardly in the chair, but it didn´t seem bothered by it. It had been stripped of all its possessions, which were now locked safely away in the evidence room.

It was definitely humanoid. But he´d feel mighty stupid talking to it if it had the brain of a turtle. They had so few facts that he had no idea what to expect. What if it wasn´t even one of _them_?

Spencer sighed. He was going to get it over with and had almost turned towards the door before he noticed. And then he froze.

How long had it been doing that?

The creature was starring right at him, through the mirror-glass. But that was impossible, the lights were out, it shouldn´t be able to see him. Did it have some sort of super vision?

"Wow.." Johnny whispered, adding to the creepy atmosphere. "That is textbook enigmatic."

Spencer ignored him, taking a very silent and slow step to the right, his heart missing a beat when the creature followed his eyes flawlessly. It knew exactly where he was. A quick move back went the same. He tried to hide a violent shudder. It was watching him as if it was sizing him up. Spencer cleared his throat,

"I´m going to talk to it now. It has waited long enough."

He tried to ignore the eyes that followed him out the room and convinced himself that it wasn´t watching him through the wall as he stepped out into the small hallway.

The heavy armed guards outside hesitated in letting him in and even offered to go in there with him, but despite his earlier unease, Spencer felt confident. The creature was handcuffed to a chair which was bolted to the floor, both hands and legs. It wouldn´t be going anywhere.

"It´ll be fine, boys. It´s not getting up from that chair," he assured them.

"Yessir. Be careful though."

He was a respected officer, well-liked and good at what he did. Gaining a bit more confidence, he opened the door and walked sternly towards the table in the middle of the room. Other than some expected tension, the turtle didn´t move. He had no doubt that it knew who it was watching from behind the glass before.

"I´m Officer Spencer and I´ll be your interrogator today," he smiled, wanting it to feel comfortable, if it could. He was always the good cop. What he didn´t expect, though, was the creature giving him a small smile back, as if it got the reference. And just like that he decided to take the easy approach. He sat down in the opposite chair.

"So. What´s your name?"

The turtle looked a bit torn, but remained silent. And just like that, Spencer was certain. It certainly understood and it certainly could think.

"A silent one, ey?"

No answer. He wasn´t going to get far with this and his own curiosity was quickly winning. Well, it looked like it wanted to talk, but that it felt it shouldn´t. He´d seen that before, in young boys not wanting to hurt their friends or family by saying the wrong thing. Well, perhaps it would defend itself.

"Yeah, I wouldn´t say anything either if I´d killed, tortured and murdered innocent people."

Finally a prober reaction and one he could work with. A widening of the eyes and a brief look around the room before it settled back with him. An unusual reaction, though.

"We have proof to put you away for a long time."

Spencer almost laughed in delight when the creature raised an invisible eyebrow at him, pulling of a very human, very skeptical look. It knew perfectly well that they had no evidence. Actually, he wouldn´t be surprised if it would suddenly turn invisible and disappear on him. He already knew it wouldn´t tell him anything of importance. So instead, he decided to focus on getting it to say something. He just needed to find the right tricker.

"Maybe you can´t talk." An insult to its intelligence. Normally, he´d at least get a raised finger for that one. But then the look in its eyes went a bit distant and once again Spencer wanted to laugh. Apparently, if he took that approach, he didn´t deserve its full attention. Cute. But he saw it bothered it. Intelligence was important to it.

"The officer that found you was pretty shocked. If I was him, I´d have-"

"If I were he."

Spencer stopped dead in his tracks, having totally forgotten what he was saying. Had he imagined that?

"Come again?"

It sighed as if annoyed.

"It´s a common expression but there are two mistakes; that of the verb implying a condition and that of the objective case of the pronoun. It should be _if I were he."_

All right then. It didn´t enjoy the stab at its intelligence, yet it didn´t want to say something potentially harmful. Correcting his speech was a way to say something that wasn´t revealing.

His glanced to the mirror before turning back, wondering if they´d caught that. He had no idea if the turtle was right but he´d learned a whole lot from the single sentence. It was a he. He was young. He was tired.

"I see. Sorry. What´s your name? It can´t hurt, I doubt you´re in the system and I gave you mine."

Another hesitation but finally a small nod.

"Don."

He was momentarily taken aback. It was such a common name, nothing special about it.

"And how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

Though happy that Don was talking to him, Spencer frowned. Sixteen was a very young age to play hero, especially by human standards. But who knew how long this creature could live.

"Any chance you´ll tell me your story?" Spencer asked. How did someone like him exist? Did he come from some lab? Was he part of some unknown species? Alien? Apparently his face revealed his thoughts because Don glared at him annoyed and he had to fight a chuckle. It made him look his age. Exactly like a teenager glaring at an adult.

"I´m a mutant. It was an accident."

He didn´t want to push the subject.

"And where´ve you been living all this time?"

"Come now, let´s not insult my intelligence again, shall we?"

He was beginning to like this young fellow.

"Fair enough. What were you doing in that alley?"

This boy-creature was fairly trained in casting dirty looks. He wasn´t going to get much out of him. The key was to find something he didn´t deem dangerous to talk about. Make it evolve from there.

"Well, what about your friends? Family?"

Later, Spencer swore that someone had turned the room down a couple of degrees. It was a completely different glare he was on the receiving end of now and he didn´t dare move. This one was clearly a threat and Spencer received it loud and clear. He found himself checking if the restraints were still firmly in place. The turtle hadn´t moved.

"Sorry. You´ll want to protect them. I get that. But we won´t hurt you. You´ve helped us too many times to worry about that."

Another skeptical look. Spencer knew what he was thinking.

"Only the five guys that brought you here know. This is above top secret. I don´t want any know-it-alls in my department before I get some answers myself. They tend to wanna take charge, you see."

Don smirked as if he knew exactly what he meant.

"What about the two in there?" he asked, casually motioning towards the mirror.

Spencer leaned forwards, placing his elbows on the table and his head on his folded hands.

"How did you-? Never mind. I didn´t think about them. But yes, them too."

Don nodded so Spencer continued. Ignoring that he knew how many was behind the mirror, he asked the second question that came to him.

"How´d you know those two weren´t the ones brining you in?"

"Not something you need to know. And it´s hard to explain. I can sense them," he warily answered, not seeming sure how much was safe to tell.

"An animal thing?"

"No, not really. I´m... very thoroughly trained."

"So you can´t turn invisible?"

Don actually laughed in surprise. If Spencer hadn´t been watching a turtle, he´d have thought it was a young man laughing.

"No," he choked out.

"Oh. No super strength?"

"No," he kept smiling.

"No crime-sensing abilities?"

"No, we´re just good at being at the right place at the right time."

"Huh."

"Yeah… Is that acrylic?"

Spencer turned to look at the mirror as Don was doing. What did he-?

"The mirror?" he clarified. Don nodded.

"Those are pretty useful. Too bad it has to be so bright in here," he muttered, looking around the small room.

Spencer nodded absently, adding a few more characteristics to his growing list. Don was calm. Intelligent. Educated. Loyal. Protective. Dangerous. Curious.

And he could imagine a mutant turtle feeling more comfortable in the shadows.

"You don´t really believe we did those things, do you?"

Spencer smiled reassuringly. If he hadn´t been convinced of this creatures humanity before, he certainly was now.

"No, I don´t think you´d do anything wrong. But tell me, what do you mean you´re thoroughly trained?"

"Sorry. No can do."

Well, what did he have left to ask about that the creature would answer?

"Why do you do it?" Spencer finally asked, getting up from his chair and pacing the room.

"Do what?"

"Fight crime. Why do you care?" More importantly, why risk your life for someone who obviously would reject you on sight? That´s what he wanted to know.

"Why do you do it?" Don countered.

"My dad was a police officer. I always knew I´d follow in his footsteps." He was getting personal and he wasn´t suppose to do that. Keep the focus on the criminal. But he didn´t care, it felt more like a conversation than an interrogation anyway. Besides, Don wasn´t a criminal.

"We… follow a certain code," he said cautiously. "All life is precious."

"Kinda like, the way of the warrior?" he joked. When Don didn´t answer, his eyes grew wide. "Really?" he asked in disbelief. "As in courage, honesty, loyalty and and uh-"

"Rectitude, benevolence, respect and honor," he recited, nodding impressed. "Honor is a pretty big thing in my world."

Spencer really liked this kid. He felt himself looking past his appearance and straight at the true sixteen year old sitting across from him. A kid that helps out because he _can_.

How the world needed more people like him.

He wanted somehow to encourage him but before he had the chance, an eager tapping interrupted him. He glanced towards the mirror, furrowing his brow.

"Could you by any chance tell me who tapped the window?"

"The youngest," he answered promptly.

"You can sense his age?"

"It´s a different kind of… vibe he sends out. He´s pretty excited, I think. The other one seems… " he searched for the right word, "-grumpy?"

Spencer couldn´t help it. He laughed and laughed harder when he realized that old Cooper would have heard him.

"So true. Is it all right if I let the young one inside? He´s dying to meet you. Thinks you´re pretty cool."

Donnie shrugged.

"You´re asking me?"

Spencer was strongly reminded of the situation they were in. He´d almost forgotten.

"I still gotta know what you were doing in that alley," Spencer reminded him. Don sighed again. Spencer briefly wondered if Don sighed a lot.

"Well, what do we normally do in alleys? A young lady was in trouble."

"I see. What was the problem?" he prompted.

A flash of controlled anger appeared in Don´s eyes before he answered.

"The usual, unfortunately." He refused to elaborate.

"But we´ve never caught you before. Never even gotten a good look at you. What happened?"

"I guess you could say I took one for the team. And failed badly," he smiled grimly.

"Why´d you need to do that?"

"Look, I´m gonna be out of here pretty soon and then I´ll find out if it worked."

Spencer took a calming breath. He didn´t like the sound of that. It seemed they were about to get visitors and potentially dangerous ones at that.

"Should I be worried?"

"Nah. They won´t hurt you for the same reasons I didn´t."

"And why didn´t you?"

Don gave of the air of someone that really didn´t want to lie but found it rude not to answer. Once again, he weighed the outcome in his head and apparently he decided it was worth the risk.

"I guess there is a bit more to it than a woman. We tried to save her from the PD´s, but we got interrupted."

Finally getting closer to what happened, Spencer felt more frustrated than he had in a long time when Don once again paused.

"By who?" he prompted.

"Whom," Donnie corrected absently. "That´s not important," he shrugged, clearly having decided, much to Spencer´s chagrin, that it was classified information. "Anyway, my… associate took a bad hit and the police arrived. I was going to distract them so the others would have a chance to get away. But unfortunately, our attackers got me with a tranq. dart. Not enough to take me out, but I got pretty sluggish."

"They said you didn´t struggle much?" Spencer said, trying to make sense of it all.

"You need to understand that we are highly trained and that we have complete control of every move we make. We know exactly what kind of damage we cause. Exactly how much force that is needed to kill. Now imagine, trying to fight with a foggy brain. I could have hurt one of you by accident. If you were an enemy and we were talking about survival, then I´d have fought back."

"But you didn´t want to hurt the police, so you chose not to fight," Spencer muttered. "Amazing."

"Not really. I´m thinking stupidity right now."

They watched each other in silence, contemplating if more needed to be said. Spencer had plenty of other questions but they´d have to wait. He wasn't about to give Don up to crazy government scientists nor was he about to let anyone else get a hold of him. He was just a kid for goodness sake.

A split second before the second tap came; Don turned his head towards the mirror as if expecting it. He figured it couldn´t hurt to let Johnny meet Don and motioned for him to enter. If anyone was going to help him make this disappearance act happen, it would be him.

A young man entered eagerly and without fear. Having encountered the turtles before and being one of the rare few that got a good look at them, his soul mission at that moment was to thank this strange creature for saving his life. It was unusual for one so young to understand what had been granted him – a second chance at life. He knew for all intended purposes that he should be dead by now.

Without hesitation or doubt, he held out his hand for Don to shake. In surprise, Don looked pointedly at his shackled hands.

"Why haven´t you released him?" Johnny cried in outrage.

"Technically, he´s still under arrest."

"But you heard him," Johnny argued. "He´s done nothing wrong!"

"I give you my word that I won´t hurt you," Don piped up.

Spencer shrugged. He knew he should be feeling mistrust and disbelief. Most criminals would lie through their teeth if such a chance was presented to them. Maybe he was getting soft in his old days, but he just had that feeling you get when encountering a young man that had gotten caught up with the wrong crowd. It was that kid you wanted to help. The kid you pulled old favors for to give a second chance.

Because he was a good kid.

"Fine. Let him go, Johnny."

Oddly enough he didn´t even feel threatened when Don stood, rubbing his sore wrists.

"Thanks," he said quietly, in slight disbelief that they´d actually released him. "Any chance you´ll let me go too?"

Spencer certainly would like to and he probably could. Only seven people even knew he was here and all of them were street cops. They had quite a different code than the higher ups. They stood together. Had each other's backs.

"I´d like to talk to you a bit more first."

Donnie fidgeted a bit, looking much too old and weary suddenly.

"What do you want to know?" he asked carefully.

"How many-"

Spencer caught himself short when the light went out without warning. Luckily it came back almost immediately after and Spencer was relieved to see Don still there.

"I´d ask quickly," Don prompted, flipping his hand impatiently.

And just like that, Spencer´s mind turned up blank. Thousand of questions fought for dominance in his mind and he knew he couldn´t possible gather his thoughts before it was too late.

Johnny, on the other hand, quickly took advantage of his silence.

"It was really nice meeting you, Don. I´d just like to say thank you for saving me a few months ago."

Once again, Donnie was taken by surprise and he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at Johnny. Then a smile slowly showed itself.

"Yeah I remember. You were the undercover police officer," he seemed almost excited meeting someone a second time. "How are you? You took some pretty nasty hits."

"I´m doing great. You really saved me back there."

"Nah, we just pushed you out the door," Don shyly averted his gaze, shrugging off his gratitude. Spencer silently added modest to his list along with a side note: _should get thanked more often_.

"I owe you so much," Johnny went on.

"No no, please don´t. You owe us nothing," the turtle protested.

Then suddenly the light went out again and both Spencer and Johnny tensed, thinking this was it. Barely a few seconds went by before he was certain someone had entered the room. But he hadn´t heard nor seen the door open.

"Who´s there?" he asked, feeling mighty stupid suddenly. Who´s there? Really? He knew perfectly well who was there.

"No, Raph!" what he recognized as Donnie´s voice suddenly hissed. "It´s okay."

Spencer nearly jumped out of his skin when the answer came from right next to him, in a gruff voice that reminded him of those buff guys from Brooklyn,

"Whaddya mean, Donnie?"

"There´s no need to knock him out, they´ll let me go," Don answered in a rational voice.

Johnny let out an embarrassing squeak when the next voice came from right behind him. He could feel warm breath on his neck and he immediately closed his eyes and tensed his entire body in an attempt to not react violently.

"Why´d they do that? Good behavior?" followed by a snicker.

"We need to get out of here. We´re going to talk about this when we get home, Donatello! I can´t believe you did that!"

Spencer really had no idea where the last voice came from.

"Ohhh, the power of the full name, Donnie! You´re in trooouuble!"

"Shuddup, Mikey. It´s his own fault. Did ya shut your brain off for a moment there, brainiac?"

"I got hit by a dart."

Spencer almost peed himself as a result of the growl that followed. He was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable. Better not draw any attention.

"Those-"

"Raphael, not now! We are not having this discussion here!"

"Let´s go."

"You got my weapons?"

"Here, Donnie-boy."

"Thanks. See you later, Spencer. Bye, Johnny."

Spencer dared not breathe and even though the room felt strangely empty, he didn´t dare assume they were gone. Johnny did,

"Are they gone?"

The silence that followed was answer enough.

"I guess so."

"How´d they…?"

"I don´t think I want to know," Spencer found himself grasping the table in relief when the lights came back on. Nothing had changed, except they were a turtle short.

"Go get the recordings of this interrogation. Destroy them. Bring me Cooper and the officers that arrested Donatello. We need to have a little talk."


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Johnny asked, pushing the creaky, old door open and peering inside. It felt like the old warehouse was barely standing, dust and noises daring anyone to enter. The air was thick and heavy, seemingly undisturbed for a long time.

"Maybe not a good idea, but it´s the only chance we´ve got," Spencer answered, sneaking stealthily forward in what he believed to be a less noticeable way. "And the only lead we got."

"But why would ninja mutants live in an abandoned warehouse? It´s not that practical. Then I´d rather believe the sewer rumors."

"You can´t live in the sewers. And even if they did, we´d never find them."

"It´s not like we´re having much luck now, is it?" Johnny spat, pushing some empty boxes aside. "We´ve been looking for weeks, man. I´m sick of this."

"I know."

"And the guys are getting pretty impatient. They won´t believe our story much longer."

Spencer nodded absently. He knew their chances were small. Many had searched for the mysterious vigilantes but none had anything to show for it. Not even a footprint.

They quickly searched the warehouse, coming up empty except for a few homeless guys. Not really looking forward to deeming this attempt another failure, Spencer hovered briefly before turning around and heading out the door, his young partner trailing slowly after him. He´d only just reached the car when Johnny called him back.

"What?" he asked grumpily, feeling the strain in his shoulders and neck. He wasn´t really in the mood for this, he just wanted to go home, microwave some dinner and then crash on the couch as he´d done every night since they started this mission. He´d seen very little of his boy. Even less of his wife.

"I think these guys might know something. I overheard them talking about some guys in costumes. We should at least check it out," Johnny said, already heading back towards the small group. Spencer grumbled something under his breath and followed him reluctantly. So much for calling it a night.

The group was small, only consisting of three people. Three men, all dressed in scrappy, torn clothes. They looked up at their approach, both feeling the wariness that came from living on the street, and the friendliness that came from knowing that sticking together was the way to go.

"Hey guys," Johnny greeted cheerily. "Cold night?"

The oldest of them smiled pleasantly.

"A bit, but we´ve got it covered," he answered, motioning to the nests of newspapers and worn blankets next to them.

"That´s good. Do you by any chance know some green guys?" As always, Johnny just threw it out there, earning some surprised grunts of the sudden change of topic.

Johnny shifted uncomfortably with the odd question. It wasn´t exactly standard and now they were all watching him warily.

"Why do you ask?"

Spencer didn´t really want to tell them too much, and his experience told him that they only wanted money and that they didn´t really have that much to tell. But Johnny was persistent.

"Basically, we need their help," he insisted, turning his pleading, blue eyes at his target. The old man shared a look with his friends before nodding.

"Yeah, we know some green guys," he offered. Spencer admired their reluctance to snitch on the turtles. If they truly did know them.

"Please, can you tell us how to contact them?"

"Well, no. They are pretty secretive. Come around once in a while with clothes and blankets."

"Really?" Spencer couldn´t help it. That was just remarkable, but also what he´d come to expect. Not many would go out of their way to help the homeless. But perhaps the turtles understood that better than anyone. Unless of course… "New ones?" he couldn´t help but ask. That earned him a glare from all four other occupants of the room.

"No. They didn´t steal them," the homeless man growled defensively. Spencer took back his words.

"Sorry. I didn´t really think so."

"Are you going to arrest them?" the old man suddenly asked, suspicion lacing his words. "Because we won´t tell you a thing." he turned away as if that would end the conversation.

"No! No, just wait, we want to help. No, we _want_ help. Just…" Spencer trailed off.

"What was your name?" Johnny asked.

"I´m Butcher. This is Dice and Mahone."

"I´m Officer Johnny Michell and this is Officer William Spencer," Johnny offered. "Now, let us tell you why we´re looking for them. Perhaps you´ll change your mind about helping us."

****

Raph turned the thing over in his hands. Then turned it around again. And again. Then he shrugged and threw it over his shoulder.

"Ya done yet, Donnie?"

The shuffling sounds from behind him stopped briefly.

"Not quite. We need another toaster and I could use a new fan for the laptop."

The junkyard was still in the early morning. Don had been quick to call on the favor Raph owed him and dragged him to the junkyard. It had been quite an unlucky week regarding kitchen appliances and Don needed parts for the refrigerator, microwave oven, blender and a new toaster, plus the part that the new toaster would be missing since it was thrown out.

Raph could have found plenty of more interesting things to do. Like sleeping. Normally they were up very late and then they´d sleep in. Training didn´t start until the early afternoon and he´d been looking forward to a few hours of sleep.

But then again, he never had been able to say no to Don. He could say no to Mikey and he sure as shell could say no to Leo, but he´d never been able to do so to Donnie. Maybe it was because Don rarely did ask for anything.

Raph glanced towards his brother and watched him fondly, though he hid it behind an exaggerated bored look. Donnie was definitely in his element. He just hated that it was limited to a junkyard. _All he´d need is a chance_, Raph thought. _But that ain´t never gonna happen._

"Come on, Brainiac, I wanna catch a few hours before training."

"We wouldn´t have to be here if you and Mikey hadn´t decided to cook dinner. Together," Donnie noted.

"Ya know, you complain if we don´t and ya complain if we do."

"I only complain when the result is half a busted kitchen."

"You got to eat didn´t you?"

"You ordered pizza."

"Yeah, yeah, keep whining, I´m not cooking for you ever again."

"Was it even food you were trying to make?"

"Shuddup, wise-guy. Ya finished or what?"

"Yeah.." Don picked up some last doohickey and put it in his bag. "This is all we´re gonna get for now anyway. I´m afraid we´ll have to do without a toaster for now."

Raph sighed. He hated the period in between toasters. He´d have to blame Mikey for this.

"Maybe the citizens of Junkville have seen one?" he suggested. Don nodded. They´d found some old carpets that their friends might find useful, anyway. They might as well ask.

****

Spencer pulled the blanket tighter around himself, shivering in the chilly morning air. He hadn´t expected it to be so cold. How did people survive out here? He hadn´t had anything to eat since he went undercover and his muscles were sore from lying on the ground. Johnny stirred next to him. He´d insisted to come when he heard what Spencer was planning.

"Morning," Johnny groaned. Spencer frowned, using a stick to stir up the small fire.

"Barely. It´s early dawn."

"I´m guessing it was another no-show?"

"Yeah. But they say they don´t get visits regularly so it was a long shot," Spencer said, defeated.

"Let´s just give it another night, huh?"

"I don´t know about you, but I´m not exactly enjoying this."

Johnny rolled his eyes. He pushed himself upright and closer to the fire. They´d both found some old clothes to wear and made sure not to wash. They needed to look authentic, so that nothing would keep the turtles away, but it wasn´t pleasant when they were use to luxuries, such as bathing and nice, clean clothes and three meals a day. But this was their best bet at finding them.

"We can´t give up when we´re so close," he said, but his attention was suddenly caught elsewhere. "We just need to hang on- sir, I think it´s them!"

That got Spencer to pay attention. He quickly followed Johnny´s gaze and couldn´t keep the smile of his face. Sure enough, two dark shadows were talking to some of the people they had met during their three days as homeless. He was pleased to see Butcher being one of them.

Spencer tried to slow his breathing and calm his nerves. This could go very wrong and everything depended on this moment. He quickly stopped Johnny from getting up. Knowing his enthusiasm, he´d scare them away.

"I´m gonna go, okay? Stay put."

Spencer got up, slowly walking closer. He noticed Butcher was holding some big bundles that he´d just received from the smaller of the shadows. As he got closer he felt relief course through him. It was them. It was finally them! They´d been searching for weeks. Warehouses, crime scenes, sewers – and finally they´d found them! Releasing the breath he´d been holding, he stalked closer until he could hear their conversation.

"-doing all right?" Donatello was asking. Butcher nodded, smiling happily.

"Yeah, we´ve had a few rough nights but nothing we can´t handle. Thanks again."

"No problem. We´d better get back. We´ll see you around."

Spencer couldn´t let that happen. He quickly jumped forward, hands shaking with anticipation. He could see them more clearly now. The shells, green skin, bulky forms. He could even recognize Donatello fairly easy. When they turned to leave he realized with a start that he´d been staring.

"Ya okay, there?" the bigger one asked, narrowing his eyes at him. He was probably a pitiful sight, all dirty and tired. He stopped a few feet away, not wanting to appear threatening.

"Donatello?" he asked shakily. The purple-banded turtle watched him suspiciously, the red one fingering the weapons that Spencer had only just noticed. Those were some pretty big forks. They watched each other warily before recognition lit in Donatello´s eyes.

"Officer Spencer?" he asked disbelieving. "Wha-?"

"I´m here too!" Johnny´s eager voice cut in. He rushed forward reaching for Donatello´s hand but he didn´t get far. Raphael immediately reached out, grabbed Johnny and shoved him back so hard he fell on the ground.

"Back off," he growled threateningly, eying both Spencer and Johnny, while stepping between them and Donatello.

Spencer hadn´t given the other turtle much thought. He´d been so focused on getting to Donatello, but now, the other turtle definitely made his presence known. The turtles muscles were tensing, a full-blown glare was burning through him and Spencer was, to put it simply, scared.

"No! Nonononono! Just wait, please! I´m William Spencer and this is Johnny Mitchell. Just listen to us for a moment," he pleaded desperately, holding up his hands in peace.

"Let´s go, Donnie," the big, red turtle said, not taking his eyes of them. Donatello ignored him, pushing him aside and kneeling next to Johnny.

"Johnny," Donatello nodded in greeting. "I remember. What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to get help."

"Donnie, who the shell are these guys?"

"Just a sec, Raph. What´s wrong?"

"Please, can we discuss this somewhere private?"

"I guess." Donatello glanced up at the other turtle. "Raph, these are the officers that released me when I got caught last year. Guys, this is Raphael, my brother."

Spencer took a good look at Raphael. So they were brothers? He could see the family resemblance. Donatello had shared with him that they were mutants and that it had been an accident. So where they transformed humans, perhaps?

"It´s very nice to meet you, Mr. Raphael, I want to thank you, you saved my life one time, I was undercover and it was-"

Spencer quickly silenced Johnny with a hand over his mouth. Raph was still frowning at the use of Mr. Raphael.

"Please, can we talk somewhere private?"

Donatello nodded, giving his brother a look and motioning them to follow him. They did so warily, trying not to be too disturbed by Raphael´s watchful eye. Donatello brought them to a wide tunnel, leading into the sewers. Spencer used a few moments to consider this particular choice. Well hidden, not well visited, but smelly, gross and dark all the same. He could understand why Donatello would lead them here. He´d anticipated that they would stop near the entrance, but the two turtles continued further in, climbing down a ladder and a few steps until Spencer was unsure if he could find his way out again. Maybe it had been a mistake, following them so blindly. He didn´t really know them after all. He´d had one encounter and the assumption that they were the good guys, but how could he really know? One glance at Johnny told him that his partner had no such thoughts. He was examining the place with interest, not seeming nervous at all.

"Here will do," Donatello suddenly spoke, making Spencer jump. It was very quiet in the sewers and he was amazed to discover that he could hear his own breathing, and Johnny´s, quite clearly. But not theirs.

"Explain," Raphael demanded, folding his arms, legs slightly spread. It was an impressive stance.

Spencer hadn´t really thought of how he would go about explaining it. He didn´t exactly have his chief´s permission to be there and it was more of a hunch than anything.

"Lately we´ve noticed a change in the pattern of the criminal underground. There are less small incidents like burglary and a lot more organized crime. All the signs of a new big boss has come into town. Have you heard of an organization that calls themselves the Foot?"

"We´ve heard of them," Raphael growled, instinctively reaching for a sai and twirling it around in his hand. Spencer glanced at the offending object.

"We recently got a warning from them. Basically, it said to stay they hell out of their business. Of course, we don´t just back off because of something like that, but problem is, every time we get close, we get punished."

"Punished, how?" Donatello asked. Johnny shifted uncomfortably.

"Punished as in they kill cops. Innocent cops, honest cops, just doing their patrols, not even aware of the threat."

"They take them off the streets?"

"They take everything. The men, cars, everything, not leaving a trace. And who knows what they´re doing to-"

"You have tracking systems in your cars," Donatello said, watching them questioningly.

"Yeah, but that´s just it," Spencer answered, wondering if that was common knowledge. "They are thorough. Not. A. Trace."

"But you´ve got the Feeds, or whatever, can´t they do something?" Raphael asked.

"They´ve tried. Problem is, they get close, and wham! Another warning, strapped to a dead agent, on their doorstep, despite their headquarters being secretly located," Johnny said, almost sounding frightfully impressed.

"So here we are. We know you´ve been involved with Saki Oroku-"

"Oroku Saki," Raphael and Donatello corrected instantly.

"What?"

"It´s Japanese. You say the last name first," Donatello explained briefly, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. Spencer nodded, but didn´t think more of it. At least he now knew that they definitely knew the guy.

"And you had something to do with his daughter, Karai, and I suspect you had something to do with the Winters Corp-incident," he continued. "We need your help. Something is going on, but we don´t know what or how to stop it."

Raphael was watching Donatello with an amused expression.

"Geez, Donnie, whadditya tell the guy? Our life story? Leo´s gonna be pissed."

Donatello glared at his brother.

"I didn´t tell him anything. And don´t go telling Leo I did, either."

"Nah, ya know I won´t, braniac."

"Listen, give me a chance to check this out and we´ll get back to you, okay?" Donatello suggested, turning back to the two officers.

"Check it out? How are you going to do that?"

"He has his ways," Raphael said nonchalantly.

"Fine, I´ll give you my number so you can call me."

"Not necessary. We´ll find you."

And then they simply walked away, quickly disappearing in the vague light of the tunnel, leaving Spencer wondering if he and Johnny would be stuck down there forever, since he didn´t know the way out.


	3. Chapter 3

"Here we are again," Spencer noted, smiling ruefully. When the turtles said they would contact him, he hadn´t expected this. He´d been jumpy for days, expecting them to turn up at his apartment suddenly and every time the phone rang, he would answer it with shaking hands. The wasted time that had gone by since they last talked hadn´t been forgiven by him either. Two more cops had been killed, courtesy of the FBI who simply had to go poke the bear, despite his warnings. They should have contacted him earlier. They should have done something.

But what could they have done? He didn´t even know what they were dealing with. He didn´t know what was going on, who it was that was killing all those innocent people. His wife, upon learning what was happening, had begged him to resign, to think of his son. But how could he? He was the only one who could get to the right people, the only people who could help him. And he had. But he had probably overestimated them. Because this was just ridiculously stupid.

"Why, Donatello? Why would you do such a stupid, irresponsible, idiotic thing?" he ranted. "This is not what I need right now, I´m never gonna get you out of here! I can´t! Last time, it was different. But in broad daylight? When _everyone _is at work?"

"Relax, Spencer." Donatello said, undisturbed by the sudden panic attack. "We´ve got it covered."

"You´ve got it covered," Spencer sounded disbelieving.

"Yeah, we just need to pass some time now."

Spencer motioned to his confinements. Donatello was once again tied to a chair, hands, feet and waist bound firmly to it.

"I can´t do much about that, I´m afraid."

"It´s fine."

"They said you didn´t struggle much?"

"Would defeat the purpose, wouldn´t it?"

Spencer nodded absently, glancing towards the mirror where Johnny and Cooper once again were situated. He´d had to use all his favors, all his earned respect to keep this quiet.

"So. How many of you are there?" he asked, thinking he might as well use the time sensibly.

"It´s not time yet," Donatello answered, smiling slightly. He was almost lounging in the chair, relaxing despite his situation. Spencer sighed, slowly losing his patience.

"When is it time?"

"You´ll see."

Spencer leaned back in his chair on the other side of the table. He didn´t know what to believe anymore. He was fairly certain that they were the good guys. And there were at least two turtles. Maybe there were a small army of them. He knew Donatello hadn´t been affected by drugs this time, which definitely meant that he had let himself get caught.

"I don´t know if I should trust you," he told him honestly. The turtle simply nodded in approval.

"Good."

Spencer was feeling frustrated with the short answers. He just wanted to know what was going on, but no one seemed inclined to give him the answers.

"You know, I could just throw you in a cell and forget about you," he threatened, despite knowing that he needed their help. "I could call the zoo. I could call scientists. I could call the top floor."

Donatello let out a small laugh that sounded a tad maniacal. It was the only sign that Donatello wasn´t as comfortable with the situation as he appeared. There was a tense moment before Donatello shrugged carelessly.

"Yeah, but you won´t. And I´ll soon know if I get to tell you or not. You´ll want to wait those five minutes."

Of course, he was right. Spencer wanted to know so badly what was going on. He was fairly sure it was pretty big, after all. And besides - he knew of Bushido. He´d read up on it.

"You´re not allowed to lie. Your honor demands it. And you told me honor is big in your family. So you can´t exactly lie. But you don´t have to tell the exact truth, right? So I have no way of knowing if you´re lying. Perhaps you´re behind all of this," he mused.

Again, Donatello nodded in approval.

"Good. You´re listening. You´re learning. But don´t worry. Interpret this: We´re not the ones doing it. And you have my word that it´s the truth."

Spencer scratched his head in frustration. That was a discussion for another time.

"How are you going to know when you can tell me?"

"It´ll be pretty obvious. The light will turn off for just a second. If it stays out, then that means we don´t need you after all and then I´ll just get out of your way."

That was probably the scariest thing he had ever heard. There were tons of security protocols. Turning the lights off at a police station should be impossible. He didn´t doubt that _if _the lights went out, the turtle _could_ just leave. Easy as breathing. Better not to focus on that too much.

"What do you need us for?" he asked instead.

"Wait and-"

Donatello stopped himself just as the lights went out. Spencer froze. This was it. Would the turtle still be there when it came back on? Would it knock him out? Would it kill him? Suddenly the lights came back on and Spencer shrank back into his chair. The turtle wasn´t gone. But it was standing in front of the chair, arms crossed and not so restrained anymore. It was suddenly very tall, looking very strong and athletic. Then it smiled.

"All right, I hope you´re ready to listen, ´cause this is gonna be one very long story and we don´t have that much time. You see, we do know the Foot, they are kinda a sworn enemy of ours. And you were right, we are very familiar with Oroku Saki. He´s dead now though, but he was the leader of the Foot, he was an evil man, well, not man, well, that´s not important right now. Now, Karai, his daughter as you know, took over the organization, but…"

Donatello took a deep breath. You´ll be able to explain it better, they´d said. Right, he was already messing it up.

"Well, you don't need to know that right now. Anyway, now there´s a new leader and he is very different from Saki or Karai because he´s turned the Foot into an army with all sorts of uncivilized weapons like guns and bombs and it turns out that he´s planning to invade New York, then the rest of the world. Now we´ve only heard of this recently-"

Donatello paced back and forth while he spoke, telling the officer how they discovered the army too late, how it already was too big to stop and how they needed an army themselves if they were to save the world.

"There´s only four of us and the new leader has learned from his predecessors´ mistakes. We´re at a loss, we don´t know what to do. He was smart, he divided his forces. It wouldn't help to take out one or two bases. He doesn´t let anyone know where he is and he is moving constantly."

Donatello had a very grave expression on his face. Asking for help was something each brother had a problem doing. All four of them needing to ask for it? Not fun, which resulted in a very long discussion. When he looked up, he caught Spencer gaze and held it firmly.

"The only thing we know is that a war is coming and that we´re not about to stand back and let New York fall because we were too proud or too scared to ask for help."

****

"Absolutely not."

"But Leo, this is really bad news and we can´t stop them alone."

Leo stood firmly on the couch in front of Donatello, who was sitting right in the middle of it. Raph had already moved away from such a submissive position, preferring to stand and not be starred down by their leader. Mikey was watching from next to Splinter´s chair, preferring to stay out of the line of fire for the moment. Unfortunately, Don didn´t have that luxury and was trying hard not to be to exaggerated with his leader. Because he understood the difficulty of the choice ahead of them.

"We will find a way. We´ve taken down the Shredder before."

"Yes, but Shredder we understood. And Karai followed the rules. This guy, he´s more like Bishop than anything, except he´s not that interested in keeping us in one piece and he has the Foot behind him."

"We´ve talked ´bout this before, Leo," Raph added. "The Foot´s like cockroaches, multiplying like crazy and hard to get rid of. Donnie checked it out and if this guy´s brought everyone over from Japan, then shell yeah, we´ve got a problem."

"And the boys in blue are the good guys anyway, right? So it would be the right thing to do," Mikey chimed in.

"No. It´s a risk that I´m not willing to take," Leo answered them calmly, for once not glancing once at Splinter to check his approval.

Don sighed warily. How was he supposed to make Leo understand? He knew it was a risk but the consequences were too big to ignore.

"Look, Leo, if this new boss makes his move, then he´ll take on all of New York and then the world. There will be nowhere left to hide. He knows of us."

Last Don had hacked into Foot mainframe he´d learned that they kept tabs on them. Every move they made, every noted location was in that file. Appearances, preferred weaponry and personalities were professionally written down and analyzed. They even had an article about the Nightwatcher. He´d been surprised by how many times they´d been spotted but not engaged. They were slowly, but surely, working their way towards the Lair. And that was disastrous if last time was anything to go by.

"It doesn´t mean he´ll come after us," Leo said stubbornly. "We´ll stay low."

"No way, Fearless, we´re not leaving those people to die!"

"I`m not saying that!"

"You just wanna sit here and do nothing!"

"I don´t want our family to end up on a dissection table!"

"We can´t not do something!"

Don finally had to step in between the two brothers´ fighting to be heard. Which, in a family of four brothers, meant being as loud and physical as possible. He placed a hand on each plastron and gave a not-to-gentle push.

"Leo, there is no way we can handle this alone. And there is no way that we can do nothing."

Mikey pushed himself up and skipped to his oldest brother´s side. He placed a three-fingered hand on his brother´s shoulder.

"That´s just not how we roll, dude."

Leo shook his head slowly and took a step away from his brothers.

"I understand, guys," he frowned, "but I´m not letting us take that risk," he said and stomped out of the room. Don, Raph and Mikey shared a look. They all pretty much agreed that they had to do something and quick.

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT**

Leo hurried through the passage that would lead him into the sewers. The familiar stench quickly filled his senses, as always reminding him to be grateful to Don for making their home so comfortable. He had no idea how he did it and if he had to be honest he didn´t really care. He was the leader after all. As long as his team got the job done, it didn´t really matter how it happened. Especially if it involved a long, complicated explanation. Yes, he´d settle for grateful.

Feeling his muscles straining was the first sign of how far he´d run. He reluctantly slowed down, surprised that he´d made it as far as the harbor. The typical smells attacked his nostrils and he allowed himself the luxury of covering up his large nose. It wouldn´t have been his first choice of places to think but he would have to make do.

Leo took a few minutes to find a spot where he could stay hidden, yet oversee the busy harbor workers. It was unusual for him, and his brothers, to be out and about during the day and it was difficult but not impossible. It took a lot more stealth, but with their years of experience it wasn´t bad, just a little troublesome what with the lack of darkness.

_Darkness gives the ninja power, while light reveals the ninjas presence. _

One of the thousand lessons that Master Splinter had them memorizing.

_The outside world will not be a friendly place for you. You four are different in ways the surface dwellers would never understand._

And hadn´t that been proved a million times already? Leo couldn´t help but sigh. He´d sighed a lot since Don had barged into the lair with Raph, asking them to expose themselves to none other than the police.

They´d discussed this plenty of times but not to this extent. Mikey had several times expressed his wishes to be acknowledged, even worshipped, but even he knew that it wasn´t going to happen, therefore his arguments would always be half-hearted. This time, though, it was a totally different situation, one that Leonardo was not equipped to handle.

There was no way they could expose themselves to humans. Splinter had told them so many times and sure, there had been exceptions, like April and Casey. But they were the exceptions that proved the rule and he was not naïve enough to believe that the second they exposed themselves to the police, they wouldn´t be killed or strapped to a table and dissected, or tortured or thrown in a cage for the viewing pleasure of the entire city, forced to do tricks and-.

Leo stopped himself before his thoughts got to out of hand. Yes, the consequences were enormous and as the protector of his family they weren´t going to happen. Asking the police for help, asking _humans_ for help was stupid, risky and they didn´t need it.


	4. Chapter 4

"Fine," Leo grudgingly admitted. "We need help."

Leo had returned to the Lair with the full intention of convincing his brothers that exposing themselves to the police was ridiculously dangerous and that they weren´t going to do it. Instead, his plan had been ruined and he´d been meet with fierce argumentation that it simply was the right thing to do.

And wasn´t that just peachy? Because he had spent years living after a code that meant everything to him. Doing the right thing was impeded in that code and therefore in his way of living. Leonardo knew that he couldn´t allow innocent people to suffer. All life is precious. And when Donatello had convinced him of their helplessness, he understood their reasoning. Even if they did nothing, they would be dragged into this. Strategically, getting a head start was the wisest move.

"But how do you expect us to do this?"

It turned out that Donatello already had made contact and Leo had to take a few deep breaths when they told him that he had gone ahead. As in, allowed himself to get caught.

"If we manage to convince you, we´re signaling Donnie," Mikey explained. "He was very impatient. Said that we needed to make a move now and we couldn´t just wait around. But at the same time, he wants to follow your lead. He´ll make contact, letting his friend know if we´ll help him or not."

"He´s not wasting any time, is he?" Leo said, rubbing his forehead. His stomach was already clenching uncomfortably with worry for his brother. This was unusual behavior for Don. Normally, he´d expect such rash actions from Raph. Except Raph was the least trusting of humans and even he wouldn´t do something so stupid.

"Let´s signal him then. I don't want him being alone longer than necessary."

Donnie had made a pretty impressive plan. He had made sure he could get out if things turned bad and it almost placated Leo. Oh, Don would still receive a lecture for being irresponsible but at least he had thought it somewhat through.

Now, though, Leo had to worry about meeting the cops who had apparently asked for their help in the first place. If only it had been in a controlled environment of their choosing, but they were meeting them in a police station of all places. And they already had his brothers as leverage.

When they dropped into the room, Leo was proud to see that Don wasn´t tied up or in any kind of trouble. He was actually surprised to find him talking casually with the officers. They´d made sure to turn off the lights once again for their arrival. It made it easier to get by unnoticed. The lights flickered back on and Leo thought briefly of how lucky they were to have April on their side.

"Oh my God!" the older officer yelped. "Don´t do that!" He breathed heavily for a moment. "You should start wearing bells or something."

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT**

Spencer was feeling a bit more comfortable than before. He´d been talking to Donatello for a few minutes now and he actually liked the turtle more than he had anticipated.

"I understand. I can´t tell you how happy I am that you´ll help us. This is quite a risk for you to take." He understood the risk alright. But he swore that he would do anything in his power to make their cooperation beneficial for all. When this was all over, he´d make sure that no one would touch them.

Donatello had opened his mouth to answer, but the light disappeared once again and they were bathed in darkness.

"What does this mean?" Spencer asked, but Donatello wasn´t answering. Had they already regretted it? Suddenly the light came back on and his heart nearly jumped out of his chest.

"Oh my God!" He exclaimed. "Don´t do that!" In front of him now stood three more turtles. They all looked alike, except the few differences in skin color, bulk and equipment. Their entrance had been so silent, Spencer had no idea how they´d done it. He tried relaxing his body, knowing that his body language was being studied rather intently right now.

"You should start wearing bells or something." Spencer was surprised when one of the newly arrived answered quite seriously,

"It wouldn´t change a thing."

Donatello smiled gently at him, noticeably a little antsy about how the first meeting would go.

"Spencer, you know Raphael," he began.

He had recognized Raphael immediately, flanking Donatello on his right side. His hands were fingering his sais and his eyes were daring him to make a wrong move. He hadn´t grown any smaller since he´d seen him last.

"Yes, hello Raphael. It´s good to see you again."

A grunt and a short nod was his reply. Donatello motioned to his immediate left, because his other side was also flanked.

"This is Michelangelo."

This turtle smiled happily at him and he was briefly surprised by the obvious friendliness that radiated from him. This turtle was so different from his red banded brother and Spencer found himself smiling back.

Donatello motioned towards the last of the turtles. This one was watching him, not glaring, but keeping a scrutinizing cold look on him. Spencer fought the urge to take a step back.

"And this is Leonardo."

"It´s nice to meet you, sir." The statement was so respectful and Spencer decided that he´d trust his first impression of them. He liked them. He had nothing to compare them to, but so far they had shown nothing but understandable caution and otherwise politeness to their elders. Well, now he just felt old.

"I am glad you´re here. I have informed my team of what they need to know. Because of the magnitude of this threat, I will do everything I can. The FBI, CIA, you name it. Whatever is within our jurisdiction is to your disposal."

Leo gave a short nod. Spencer noticed how he was standing slightly in front of the others, now noticeably flanked by Donatello and Michelangelo. Raphael was standing the farthest back, by Donatello´s right. Despite them standing in an interrogation room, it made a terrific sight.

"Shall we go meet the team?"

"No." Leonardo´s reply was sharp and Spencer found his attention locked on him. "This isn´t something we´ve ever done before, but this policestation isn´t the place to do it. This is going to be huge, secret and we need a headquarter worthy of the job."

"What did you have in mind?"

"We know a place. Go tonight to set it up. Whatever equipment you think you´ll need, all the men that need to know. Get your team set up and I´ll do the same."

Spencer nodded. He hadn´t thought of establishing a home base but it sounded like a pretty good idea.

"What about you?"

"Tonight we´ll infiltrate one of his bases. We´ll find out what we can. We´ll meet you there when we´re done." Leonardo suddenly hesitated as if he was going to say more. Then suddenly he added, "If that´s okay with you."

Spencer smiled pleasantly, being violently reminded that he was in the company of 16 year olds. These weren´t trained agents with the authority to take charge, and Spencer felt oddly honored that they´d bothered to ask him.

He wasn´t even going to question how they were going to infiltrate a top-secret base. There was much he didn´t understand but his gut-feeling told him to trust these guys. Or turtles.

"That sounds like a plan."

Spencer had called the right guys and made the right moves. His team was set-up and ready. The headquarters Leonardo had suggested had been an abandon warehouse in a not very busy district and he had to admit it was perfect.

He´d talked to his chief. She didn´t like that they had to work with vigilantes but even she couldn´t deny how helpful they had been on several occasions. Mostly, she´d been wanting to meet them and she wasn´t thrilled hearing that they were making the first move on their own.

The rest of his team was mostly skeptics. He´d chosen them carefully, deciding who should know of the turtles and who should simply be receiving orders.

He´d brought in two tech specialists or geeks as they usually called them, two tactical advisors and three team leaders. Johnny of course, absolutely refused to stay out of it, despite him being practically a rookie and even Cooper, who´d also been a witness to his first encounter with Donatello, had insisted being a part of the team.

"When will they be here?" Johnny asked impatiently, shifting his weight from leg to leg. Spencer wasn't really listening; he was constantly going over his team in his head, double checking his choices. Did he trust them? Would they betray him? He´d worked with each person under different circumstances, but that didn´t mean he knew them. Choosing a team had been difficult and he had made sure to choose the most open-minded, which had resulted in every one under the age of 30 years old, except himself and Cooper.

"Did they say how they were going to do it?" Johnny continued, oblivious to the fact that Spencer weren´t listening at all.

The thoughts and questions came to an abrupt hold when the ground suddenly started shaking. Panic quickly spread, the tech-team jumping to support their hardware so that it wouldn´t crash to the floor. When the rumble only got louder, Johnny and Spencer scrambled out of the building along with one of the team leaders to see what was going on.

It was an unusual silent night, making the steady rising rumble rather disturbing. Spencer squeezed his eyes together, trying to penetrate the darkness, but the only light, the one above the entrance to the warehouse, was only successful in making everything seem darker. As the rumbling grew louder still, Spencer and Johnny found themselves having to balance themselves and were soon joined by the rest of the curious team.

"Earthquake?" one of the team leaders suggested, only to be shot down by a techy.

"Unlikely," she muttered, her eyes on the lookout for anything threatening.

Spencer was later unable to pretend he wasn´t impressed by what he saw next. He even felt his jaw dropping and his eyes widen and suddenly their mission didn´t seem as hopeless.

Because a huge machine just tore through the ground, leaving a large tunnel behind and was now making its way towards them. Spencer swallowed heavily, watching as the huge machine came to a stop a few feet from him. It was about the size of a bus and looked unlike anything he had ever seen before. The drill that took up most of the front slowed down and gradually disappeared.

He barely had time to close his mouth before his attention was forced away and towards a large, armored green truck instead. It burst through the meek fence that surrounded the area and skidded to a violent stop next to the tunnel digging machine. He couldn´t help but notice the weaponry that covered the vehicle, the reinforced tires and the darkened windows. It looked like a tank.

His thoughts were scattered, however, when the wind suddenly picked up, forcing him to grab a hold of his blue cap. All of his senses were screaming for him to look up and made him gaze upon… Nothing.. But that noise, it sounded just like a…

Suddenly a shimmer in the air and he barely kept himself from fainting when a green chopper suddenly appeared not 45 feet above him. It was quick to maneuver around and land next to the other vehicles.

Now, Spencer wasn´t an expert on these things, but judging from the awed expression on his team and the meeker knowledge that he had, he´d say that this was some pretty awesome stuff. Perhaps he had underestimated the turtles.

But, geez, what happened to the rough vigilantes that took care of low-life thugs in random alleys?

Spencer watched as Donatello pulled off his headgear and jumped out of the chopper, as Michelangelo pranced down the stairs that had unfolded from the tunnel digger and as Leonardo and Raphael slammed the doors to the armored truck closed.

They all gathered on a single line, accepting the rude stares that his team was currently exposing them to.

"How did you..? Perhaps we stand a better chance than I thought," Spencer finally said, making sure not to flinch as all eyes turned to him. "Please, let me introduce you to the team."

He began with Marty Cooper, the grumpy old man that had stood behind the mirror on the first interrogation of Donatello. Then he continued on introducing his two tech specialists, Mira Johnson and James Loera. Mira was a pretty girl with a very practical look. Her brown hair was in a ponytail and she looked small compared to James, who was fairly tall, with fussy hair and black glasses. Next came the two tactical advisors, Robert Lindsey and Andrew Gray, both firm looking men with a disciplined stance, both having taken several courses on military tactics and strategies and being rewarded several times for their trouble. Next came the three team leaders, a young woman named Juliet McGregor, with dark blond hair and a thin expression on her face. An experienced man, Michael Sussman, who´d served in Afghanistan not two months prior and Timothy Smith, a balled man with a fierce glare and coldness about him that demanded respect and command and a set of muscles that could enforce it if needed.

Leonardo did the introductions on his part, his hands longing for his swords. He wasn´t exactly comfortable with this situation and he´d feel a lot better if he could have the comfortable weight of his swords in his hands. He stood with his arms crossed in what Mikey had dobbed the lecture-stance. Raph was standing slightly bent, as if he would charge at any moment, his hands casually hovering near his sais. Mikey and Don had adopted the most casual stances. When introductions had begun, Mikey had dropped into a crouch, one that might look casual, but that Leo knew could turn around in less than a second. Don was leaning against the battleshell, with one leg crossed over the other. He looked relaxed, but Leo had noticed that he was mighty close to the guns on the vehicle and that from his position, he could easily control them to fire off some warning shots if it became necessary.

It was actually more effective, Leo realized, than what Raph was doing, because all eyes were constantly returning to Raph, naming him the greatest threat, while Mikey and Don were going more unnoticed, or as unnoticed as a giant turtle could go. He was determined to let these humans get the watching out of their system. If they were going to work with these people, it wouldn´t be beneficial if they were constantly watching and on their guard.

Unfortunately, trust often required trust, which was hard to produce, having been through all that they had. But Leo was willing to give it a shot. They couldn´t take down the new Shredder alone. He was far too powerful and they´d have to go through an army to even get close to him.

Besides, humans sometimes surprised him, if not often.


	5. Chapter 5

Andrew, one of the tactical advisors, walked up to where Spencer was chatting with the turtles, disbelief written all over his face. He´d kept his mouth shut doing introductions, but he honestly thought that this was ridicules. He straightened his tie as he talked.

"This is what you´ve brought? Animals to save the Earth?" he scoffed. "Send them back to whatever zoo they came from. They don´t belong here."

"Now, Andy, I don´t want to hear it. You may be an expert but they have the experience we lack. They´ve dealt with these things several times before. Didn´t you read their files?"

Andrew scowled angrily.

"I sure did. 16 years old, ey? Ninja heroes? They are a bunch of vigilantes that should be thrown in a cage!"

"Stand down, Gray."

"I will not! This is outrageous! I am the specialist! I graduated the top of my class and I am the only genius in this room! You need ME not stupid animals that doesn´t even speak!"

Leonardo had originally decided to let Spencer handle the situation, but this guy was wearing down his patience. He had expected this kind of treatment but this guy was so ignorant, he really felt like silencing him. He didn´t get the chance, though, before Raphael cut in.

"The only genius in this room, ey?" he asked, apparently cool for once. Leo had expected him to kill the guy before he had the chance to stop him. Or at least hurt him a bit..

"Oh, it speaks," Andrew mocked. "Speech does not equal intelligence."  
"Of course not, that would mean Mikey is intelligent."

"Hey!"

"Seriously, though, we don´t need you. We got our own genius."  
The man scoffed, on the verge of laughing. Who were these freaks to tell him what a genius was? They probably thought being able to read equals genius.

"I doubt that very much-" But Raph had stopped listening, realizing that their resident genius was missing.

"Donnie?" he called, looking around. Realizing the same, Leo felt his eyes widen dramatically. How could he not have noticed Donnie wander off? Or worse? What if he´d been taken? Sure Don was the quietest of the bunch but he should have noticed him leaving. He quickly scanned the rows of computers, searching for his younger brother. He was about to turn to pound Andrew into the wall until he got answers when he heard Mikey´s question.

"Whatcha doing, Donnie?"

And the answering voice that calmed him more than anything.

"I think this is a skydiver 3900. May I?"

He turned to find Donnie sitting in front of one of the computers, a young man leaning over his shoulder.

"I´ve heard of you guys," he casually mentioned while he watched Don play with his computer.  
"Oh yeah?" Donnie asked, distracted. This was fascinating but it just wouldn´t do. He´d need his own main computer, this one didn´t have enough juice to get the job done.

"Yeah," the young man didn´t seem afraid even though he was the youngest human in the room. He looked like he was fresh out of school. "Is it true you hacked into Oroku Saki´s mainframe in less than twenty minutes?"

Leo, Raph and Mikey quickly joined their brother, ignoring the argument going on behind them between Spencer and Andrew.

"Donnie?" Raph asked, pretending he had some idea of what was on that screen. Looked like a bunch of random letters and numbers to him.

Leo, who´d heard the young man´s question, felt a sudden rush of pride of his younger, genius brother.

"He did it in less than ten," he commented casually, trying not to fell smug. After listening to Andrew, it was nice that someone knew that Don could do some pretty awesome stuff.

"Ha, that´s nothing! Remember when you hacked into the White House and changed the desktop on the President´s computer, just to prove you could?" Mikey blurted.

Raph smirked, remembering he had gotten to choose the picture. Good times. Don just shrugged.

"Mikey, that was two years ago and a tad illegal. Maybe this isn´t the best place to mention that."

Spencer had finally joined the group and watched as Don got to one of the higher security files.

"Oh, just a sec, I´ll get you the code-"

"No need, I got it."

"Oh."

A few minutes later, Donnie had what he needed. He turned around in the chair. His brothers watched him expectantly. Andrew hadn´t joined them again, having been put in his place for the moment. Spencer and the young man from earlier, James, also gathered around him. Don only spoke to his brothers, though.

"I´m thinking, if we´re gonna pull this off, we need to do it discreetly. A panic is the last thing we need. If the media got a whiff of the news, we wouldn´t have surprise on our side. If this mission was going to be successful, no one should know."

"That´s impossible, it always leaks out," James said.

"How´re you gonna do it?" Leo asked, not wasting time explaining to James that what seemed impossible, often took Donnie about two minutes.

"I´ll just make a virus that deletes certain words and everything containing them. It should give us some time. Then I´ll take down every news station temporarily. If they find something, it´ll be deleted the second it comes into contact with any computer."

"Great. And the Foot? Can we get to know them better?"

"Yeah, but I need my own computer. This stuff here," he waved his hand, motioning everything in the room, "it´s not enough. Beside, I´ve got loads of code back home. It´ll be much faster."

TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT

"How much more, Donnie?" Raph grunted as he got a better grip on the huge thingamajig that he was carrying into their new HQ. He didn't really know what to think of this whole team up with the police thing, but he knew one thing – doing nothing was not his style. Unfortunately, while they were doing _something_ it wasn´t exactly what he had in mind. Kicking the new Shredder´s ass was what he was planning. Unfortunately, all he was doing was setting up a lot of Donnie´s computers and… stuff. Shell, he didn´t even know what half of this stuff was. He got that Donnie had to work his magic, he just didn´t get why it had to take so freaking long.

And they´d barely even set things up yet.

"It´s not my fault that their equipment weren´t up to the task," Donnie answered. "I´m not exactly thrilled either. But this is the last one. I just need an hour to set it up and then we´ll see."

Great, and what was he suppose to do with an hour? He wasn´t any good with that techy stuff. His job came later when Donnie had finally pointed him in the direction of the bad guys. Patient wasn´t exactly his favorite thing to play.

While Raph was complaining in his mind, Leo was casually conversing with his new team.

"Why are you helping us?" they´d ask.

"Why are _you _helping _us_?" he´d answer.

"What are you?"

"What are _you?"_

"Where do you live?"

"Where do _you _live?"

And that´s pretty much how it progressed. Until Spencer had discreetly asked him to cut them some slack. Leo sighed. Fine, he´d humor the humans for a while. Without revealing anything, of course. Unfortunately, he hadn´t accounted for Mikey, who was currently chatting with the team leaders, Juliet, Michael and Timothy. He was thrilled when Spencer had told him that Andrew had been thrown out.

"We´re mutants, of course."

"So you used to be humans?" Michael asked curiously.

"Not exactly, no. We´re not, like, X-men mutants. We´re mutated turtles," he explained happily.

"How´d you get such excessive equipment?" Timothy asked suspiciously. Mikey shrugged off the accusing tone and hesitated in his answer when they were joined by Mira, James and Robert. As an entertainer, he did like a big crowd after all.

"That´s all thanks to our own techno-turtle! Donnie has built them aaallll by himself! Wanna see them?"

The group nodded enthusiastically and Mikey proceeded leading them outside. He did enjoy bragging, even if it was for a brother. And he was sure that he could mix his Battle Nexus Championship into the conversation. Somehow.

"This was actually my idea," he explained, walking around the Battleshell. "I drew her up and everything. She´s improved a lot since that, though. This paint-job." He patted the metal affectionately. "Mine."

When Mira Johnson was forced to sign a confidentiality contract and sworn to secrecy, this wasn´t at all what she had expected. Having always been brighter and more curious than the other children, she´d surpassed them at an early age. She´d finally found her match in James Loera when she got her job at FBI and was thrilled to have found someone to challenge her. Unfortunately, it hadn´t lasted long. James could keep up, but he couldn´t teach her anything new.

Therefore, she was excited to be challenged. She´d read the files and knew what she was required to do and it was going to be very difficult but she was determined to see it done. She´d been hand-picked by Officer Spencer, having worked with him before and he´d told her that he needed someone with her brilliant mind. She´d thought he´d meant her talent with computers. Now, she was suspecting that he´d meant something else.

He´d given her another file. One that contained information about a group of vigilantes. Why should she care? She´d never seen it before. She´d seen the news and heard the rumors, but she´d been mighty busy with something else. Vigilantes didn´t interest her. Computer security hacking did. And she´d found a hacker who was perfect.

At first it had been a hobby. Then it became a challenge. Then it became an insult she just couldn't let go.

For the past year, she´d tracked him unsuccessfully. For the past year, she´d done anything she possibly could to find him. But he eluded her every time. Then one day,

_There he was. She´d finally found him. Not his location, no – if only so. But he was there NOW and she could give him a message. Should she contact him? Should she write to a criminal? A Hacker? He was good. He was one of the best she´d ever known. And he´d probably know exactly who she was the moment she made contact, despite all her precautions. _

"_I finally found you," were her first words to him. She wasn´t expecting him to answer. He´d given her nothing but headaches and migraines for the past year. He deserved to tremble, to fear he´d actually been found. She wanted him to be afraid. She´d get some sort of satisfaction out of perhaps causing him a headache. His response was nothing she had imagined. _

"_I wasn´t aware we were playing hide and seek. Is it my turn to count?"_

_Her stomach had clenched in excitement. She´d never imagined she´d get such a thrill from just talking to him. But he´d occupied her thoughts for many months and she needed to know he was real because he always, somehow, managed to slip through her fingers and disappear. She reached for the keypad again, wanting to answer, but knowing she shouldn´t. His message was clear. He was looking for her now. Her heart was thumping uncomfortably loud in her chest._

"_Have you found me yet?"_

_As she typed the words, she felt ridicules. Yet, she wanted to know._

"_Mira Johnson. Homeland Security. It´s a pleasure to meet you."_

_What if he truly was as dangerous she had made him seem? What if she only had seconds until he would arrive and kill her for getting too close? She calmed herself. The FBI weren´t looking for him. What she had gathered about him – he came, he saw, he left. Which was why her precious spare time was used looking for him. He was her challenge and unfortunately, a mystery. _

"_Since you know my name, it would only be polite to let me know yours."_

_She basically confirmed who she was, but she didn´t care. She needed some sort of closure. But mostly, she wanted to know why he kept treading dangerous grounds. Was it his challenge, as he was for her?_

"_Don."_

_She´d didn´t know what she had expected. Maybe one of those fancy online names that most hackers tended to take. But Don was a pretty regular name. Perhaps Don was a pretty regular guy._

"_Can I ask you something?"_

"_Shoot."_

"_Why hack into the CIA?" _

_She´d been so curious. If anyone had the ability to mess with anyone's computer and learn any secret, they also had the power to destroy whatever they wanted. Why hack the CIA, only to do nothing? _

"_My brother had a question."_

"_Which was?"_

"_He wanted to know if the CIA was covering up any information about the JFK assassination. He has a theory. Never thought about it before. Got curious."_

_He´d taken a huge risk because his brother had asked a question about something that happened years ago?_

"_You were also detected hacking into the millionaire, Oroku Saki´s security systems yesterday. Why?"_

_The answer was much more hesitant this time. She was afraid he´d left._

"_It´s a long story."_

"_I got time."_

"_I don´t. I´m sorry. I promise you, it´s nothing bad. We´re trying to help."_

_With that he did disappear. She´d been trying to track him, of course, but unless he lived in the middle of a desert he had escaped her once again. _

_Since that day, he´d never been detected again. A few weeks later, it all made sense. Oroku Saki had been somewhat exposed as what he was. But since the money the city received was good, nothing was done about it. When he finally did go down, she had a feeling she knew who to thank. _

When Spencer had introduced her to Donatello, she hadn´t put together the clues. When she had gotten over the whole he´s-a-turtle-thing, she had helped him set up his computers and everything else he needed. Then she watched him work. He had been flanked by her and James for the last thirty minutes, working on getting info on the Foot and keeping the media none the wiser, and she´d been stumped. James had asked questions and casually chatted with the turtle. She had remained silent.

"Don?" she asked carefully, almost feeling bad breaking the silence that had surrounded them for the past few minutes.

"Yeah?" he asked without hesitance. Her breath hitched and she swallowed thickly.

"Mira Johnson," she goaded. "I do believe we´ve meet."

His fingers froze on the keypad for a second before they continued their previous dance on the board. She felt a bit offended. She was convinced that she was the one who had been closest to catching him. Ever. And he was just going to ignore her?

"Yeah, I remember," he answered before she had a chance to consider what to do. "Surprised?"

"A bit. I can´t believe you´re 16."

Don chanced a glance at the woman and smiled.

"Yeah, well. You´re pretty young yourself. Had to be a bit more careful after you found me."

She smiled. The compliment didn´t go undetected and she suddenly liked this guy a lot more.

"I´ve got ten years on you. Yet you still managed to evade me. That´s impressive."

She was surprised to see the turtle blush.


	6. Chapter 6

"-and then I claimed my prize! The crowd was going nuts and I humbly accepted their worshipping, for I, Michelangelo, had become The Battle Nexus Champion!" Mikey jumped up, taking on his hero-pose. His audience, which now consisted of Johnny, Michael and Juliet, were stunned into silence. Mikey gave them an expecting look and Johnny was quick to start clapping enthusiastically, quickly followed by Michael.

"That was amazing, Michelangelo!" Johnny cheered. "I can´t believe you´ve participated in an _intergalactic tournament_!"

"Yeah, I went up against some pretty tough guys and they even raised a statue of me," Mikey boosted, thrilled that someone was listening for once.

"Really?" Johnny watched Michelangelo as if he was his new hero. His other audience was less thrilled.

"How do we even know you´re telling the truth?" Michael asked skeptically. "I fought in the alien invasion a year ago. They didn´t seem friendly."

"Yeah, the Triceratons aren´t to be messed with. But they´re not all bad. Traximus is cool, he´s an ally of ours. And Zog. He was great, he saved us."

"You have a lot of alien friends?"

"Not that many," Mikey frowned. "And we don´t get to see them that often."

It had been a while since he´d seen Usagi and Gen. He knew Leo missed Usagi a lot, having finally found someone that he understood and could relate to. He´d found it funny how they both gave each other swords as a Christmas present. How boring could you get? He snorted. Dorks.

"I better go see if Spencer need any help," Johnny sighed regrettably. "But thanks for the tour, Mikey, it was amazing."

"You´re welcome, dude!"

"I should also go," Michael said. "We´ve fooled around long enough. Perhaps it is finally time for some action."

Mikey felt a bit disappointed that they all were leaving. He already knew that he wasn´t needed until Leo called him and that was after Donnie had done whatever Donnie does. He considered how he was supposed to entertain himself until then when he saw Juliet was staying. She had been very quiet, not commenting at all, only observing. Now that he thought about it, she hadn´t said a word since he meet her.

She looked pretty cute, though. She was wearing an army uniform, her black hair perfectly secured in a tight bun. She looked very disciplined and strict, something that Mikey weren´t very good around. But he was already bored and he hadn´t been alone for more than a few seconds.

"Not going with them?" he asked, causing her eyes to snap to him, having been lost in thought. He briefly wondered what she thought about when her eyes where empty like that.

"No."

"So. What´s your story?" he asked curiously.

"None of your business," she hissed, folding her arms and refusing to acknowledge him. Mikey watched her for a few seconds. Then he smiled happily.

"Not what you expected, huh?"

"Talking mutant turtles roaming New York turns out to be friendly and talkative creatures with a sense of humor? No I wasn't expecting that," she agreed quietly, stiffening slightly at the casual demeanor.

"You forgot brilliantly, handsome heroes. We are," he assured her, smiling flirtatiously at her. Juliet leaned back a bit but smiled politely.

"That has yet to be seen," she concluded. Mikey feared for a moment she had nothing more to say and was about to open his mouth to try a different tactic in spurring on conversation, when Juliet suddenly offered something herself. "I am surprised you decided to work with us. Spencer had us going in circles for a while. Waiting for some heroes, " she sent him an amused glare, "that might never show themselves."

"We came," Mikey smiled, serious for once. "You´ll see. When we´re needed, we always come."

"Yeah?" her attitude suddenly took a drastic change. "Well, I´ve heard that before. And why would you even care?"

"We live here. We want to help. Besides, we know a thing or two about old can opener and his little toes."

"You could hide," she suggested, trying to understand why they would risk exposure. "The sewers are many and I doubt they could find you. We couldn't."

"If this is show and tell, why don´t you share a bit first?" Mikey suggested sensing there was more to this girl than meets the eye. "I´m a good listener," he playfully added, sending her a thousand watt smile.

Juliet pushed a stray group of hair behind her ear and looked down. A moment after she glanced up and her resolve had hardened.

"Let´s just say that I don´t trust you not to leave when things get to warm for comfort. If we are to survive, then we need to think before we trust complete strangers." Her back straightened with her last words and Mikey´s smile turned down a few degrees.

"Been burned before, huh?" he said quietly. "I´m not good with betrayal either. I´d rather die than be betrayed."

She expected it to be a joke, but when the turtle´s smile had completely disappeared, she had to understand.

"You´d rather die than be betrayed?" she questioned.

Mikey nodded solemly. "It´s a nightmare of mine. I get nightmares sometimes," he smiled at her sadly, reminding her of a small child, pretending to be brave. "My dad once told me that I probably felt like that because death has no deceit, ya know? You get what you´re promised. But betrayal is more of a willful slaughter of hope. And my brothers and me.. hope is all we got."

"That´s awful," Juliet gasped, only hesitating slightly before laying a hand on top of his. "You´ve been betrayed?"

"So have you," Treating the question as a statement. "But enough of this sad stuff!" He suddenly lightened up. "You can trust us!" he happily assured her. "And we´re gonna kick New-new-cheese head´s butt together!"

Juliet smiled gently and nodded.

"I´d like that," she said. "So tell me more about this Ultimate Ninja you mentioned?"

Mikey positively beamed.

This was odd. Even for him and he´d seen his share of odd things, being this close to retirement. Standing behind the glass at the police station, watching this abnormally was one thing. But conversing with it? Becoming friends with it? _Trusting _it? No. That was too much to ask. He now wondered why on earth he´d insisted on being on this so called team of mixed species.

Who was he kidding? He knew. This was talking to _aliens_. Associating with other species, potentially _saving the world_. So hell yeah, he wanted to go down in the history books. But what use was he? An old man like him had nothing to offer. But fifty years on the Force and nothing particular to show for it, of course he was going to jump on board.

Who didn´t want to be remembered? Who didn´t want to be appreciated?

He had no family, no personal friends. He was just old.

Cooper pushed back his chair when he heard Spencer call them in for a meeting. He´d sat down while waiting because his old knee was giving out. Walking the short distance to the table that had been set up with exactly thirteen chairs. One had been removed discreetly when Andrew Gray, for some discreet reason, had chosen not to participate.

Being a fan of the old favorites, he noticed with a smile that the table was round, deeming them all equals. Obviously that was Spencer´s doing, who diplomatically had placed himself in the seat next to a turtle creature. How ironic that there were thirteen seats of the round table, with an empty, now gone, chair for the "traitor", similar to that of the betrayal of Judas. Would that mean that the seat would be filled at the beginning of their quest, as it happened with the quest for the Holy Grail, where Percival filled the seat? Maybe their team was not yet complete. He smiled coyly for himself, enjoying that observation and chose the seat closest to him.

To his right sat James, a techy and on his left sat Robert, the now only tactical adviser. James was seated next to Mira, who was sitting next to the purple-banded turtle. He wasn´t good with names. Next to the purple one, was the scary, red one. Then came the blue one, who was sitting next to Spencer. He looked fine, despite being seated between to turtles, having the orange one next to him and Juliet, the youngest squad-leader, next to the turtle. Michael, Timothy and Johnny filled out the last three seats and he pretended he didn´t see the childish, not so discreet, discussion between Juliet and Johnny about who should get to sit next to the turtle.

Kids.

When they all had settled, Spencer cleared his throat to get their attention.

"I´m sure we´re all very curious. We´re feeling left out," he looked at the turtles as if berating them for that offense, "Let´s share information. You tell us everything you know and we´ll do the same."

The turtles shared a look as if debating how much to tell. Cooper decided that they´d come to the conclusion to lay everything on the table, just from those single looks. Obviously, they knew each other well. It was the blue one who spoke up.

"We could only confirm what we already know. Mostly, we learned of their recruiting methods-"

"Yes!" Johnny tore up from his chair, pumping a fist. "That´s how we´ll do it! I´ll pose as a new recruit, infiltrate their base," he lowered his voice dramatically, "_and destroy them from the inside!_"

The blue turtle was already shaking his head.

"That´s not going to work. There are several tests every recruit has to go through and barely twenty percent make it through."

"I´m healthy as an ox! I can do it easily," Johnny insisted. The blue turtle held up a, oh hell, _three fingered hand_ to silence him.

"You´d have to go under a strong form of hypnosis, making it almost impossible to hide ill intentions, even for a well-trained mind."

"Yeah dude," the orange one added, "You´d cluck like a chicken while sprouting every secret you have! When they´re done with you they´ll know what you did last summer!" he dramatically declared.

Johnny paled significantly and sat back down. "Then what?"

"As we´ve agreed before," the blue turtle continued, "if we take down one or two of his bases, we´ll be nothing more than a small bother. The Foot is nothing if not resourceful."

"Yes, I see. It´s a cutting off the head kinda thing," Spencer nodded eagerly. "But who is the head of the Foot?"

"Oroku Saki needed a public face to manage that kind of money," the purple turtle interfered. "It´s likely we´re looking for someone similar. Someone with a whole lot of power and influence."

Cooper shook himself out of the trance he accidently had fallen into. Watching a walking, talking turtle form words was fascinating and hypnotic in its own way. The old man had to admit that though years of experience could be beneficial, it could also be a hindrance when faced with something that _should_ be impossible. His brain was telling him that the world didn´t work this way and therefore it pretty much shut down when faced with something so surreal as a talking turtle.

He supposed that was why he was surrounded by kids. He had never felt older in his life. And the youngest of everyone was, of course, the teenage turtles that they placed their faith in. Dear Lord.

Leo didn´t like being exposed like this. He wasn´t comfortable. And he had the ability to become comfortable almost anywhere. On a stiff floor mat. On top of ruins. In the middle of brotherly chaos. But in a room with policemen? He shifted again, trying to reach a higher awareness. He´d been teased endlessly by his brothers about meditation most of his free non-training time away, but he certainly found it useful now. He could sit in the corner, quietly and unnoticeable, yet sense ill intentions a mile away.

_Breathe_.

He´d seen Mikey interact with these people and he couldn´t help but feel sorry for his little brother. Mikey was a typical youngest and craving attention had been a part of him for as long as Leo could remember. He only wished Mikey could hide away that craving. He didn´t need these strangers to think they needed anything. But his brothers weren´t making it easy.

Mikey had been following around that Juliet girl with a determined look Leo knew a little too well. There was no doubt that the youngest turtle had promised himself something about that girl, probably to save her or perhaps something as simple at making her smile. _That would be very Mikey,_ Leo thought, losing his concentration and cracking a small smile. But in doing that, he also showed a weakness. Mikey needed friends, wanted them desperately. He was too quick to trust and too quick to forgive.

_Focus_.

Don hadn't been any better. Oh, he´d shown everyone that he could do it by himself. That he had the technology and the brains to handle this new situation they had gotten themselves into. In that aspect, they didn´t need anyone. But he hadn´t missed the glint in Don´s eye when talking to the other two techies. He hadn´t missed the need Don had for a challenge, or rather for someone to challenge _him_ and try to prove him wrong.

Shell, he suspected Don would be thrilled if anyone could do that.

It must also be a relief not having to dumb himself down. April could follow him through a lot, but even she had her limit. Mikey craved attention. Don craved to be free to discuss and be challenged mentally. To find someone who could also connect the dots and see the world turn as he did.

_Empty._

At least Raph was his old grumpy self. He hadn´t shown any weakness, except perhaps to boredom. As it was, he´d been standing against that same wall, arms crossed, occasionally changing which leg he stood on. He seemed to be simply watching, having long ago used his almighty glare to scare away anyone wanting to engage him in friendly talk. Since he´d helped Don set up shop, he hadn't moved.

His eyes were constantly flickering though.

Don.

Mikey.

Don.

Mikey.

He was definitely on watch. And there it was, wasn´t it? His weakness, exposed for all to see. Raph´s weakness was his brothers, particularly the younger ones. If anything were to happen to them, he´d be completely destroyed. Leo knew this, because he felt the same. And it wasn´t that Raph wasn´t watching him too. But they´d long ago learned that the best way to keep the youngest safe was to work together. Raph´s gaze flickered to him.

_Yeah, I´m watching too,_ Leo barely nodded in his brother´s direction. Raph made a barely soundless ground and continued his endless guarding.

Was Leo emitting any weakness? He certainly didn´t hope so.

No, Leo really didn´t like being exposed like this. And his meditation had completely failed.

"Guys," Don´s voice cut across the room. "I got him."

**A/N: ****Okay guys, lay it on me. How am I doing? Are they staying in character? Is there anything I can improve on? Please let me know what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7

This was getting tiresome. Not only had he spent hours ensuring that this would not happen, not only _did _it happen, but it happened _thrice._ Not that he feared it. It was merely a complication on the path to victory. If it had been too easy, it would not have been a worthy victory, surely. Therefore, the challenge was appreciated, if not expected and he was not without means to end this before it began.

It came from an odd source though. There was no one to threaten him, no one to spite his might, therefore, he needn´t fear where this so-called _threat _came from. It was rather curious though, and he was a rather curious man. Sitting alone in his office, he saw no reason why he couldn´t indulge in a little fun and since he had no superior, he saw no reason why he even questioned himself.

Starring intently at his screen, he waited for the opportune moment, passing the time correcting his wiki-page. Stunningly handsome. Unparalleled brilliance. Generous organizer of charity events. Born.. Well, ten years off his age wouldn´t hurt. Making up some background story with poor parents and his rise to fame wasn´t too difficult.

"Sir?"

He sighed heavily, as if the disturbance was yet another burden on his already heavy shoulders. He´d have to catch _him_ as he came, not when he left. Not that he could leave with anything substantial. So far, the only thing that had been hacked had been his official business records. But it was enough to know that someone was checking up on him. He wanted to know which justice department would receive a _gift_ this time.

Finally, he glanced up at the small man, standing in the doorway. "Yes?"

"Homeland Security is here to see you."

And Homeland Security it was.

"Oh?" he faked polite interest. "Best let them in now, eh Sam?"

"Yessir." The young man opened the door to its entirety and bowed his head as two men in heavy suits walked in. As per usual, they looked typical and boring with their grey suits, boring one colored ties and shoes with layers of grease to make them shine probably.

He, himself, wore his clothes casually, yet he did not wear casual clothes. A pearl-white, newly ironed shirt, black suit pants and sneakers. The suit jacket was pure quality, yet hung carelessly around the back of his chair. He didn´t need a tie. His hair was freshly cut, giving him a hair due fit for a military unit and he was freshly shaven. Simply put, he looked good.

Standing up in his chair, he played his part and hurried around the table to great his guests.

"Oh my," he gushed, "Homeland Security? I don´t understand… What can I do for you, Gentlemen?" he rambled, gesturing towards the two seats in front of his desk. The two agents shook their heads in unity.

"I´m afraid you´re coming with us."

He shook his head as if regretting his next action before holding up his right hand casually, "Yes, I would fear that as well if I were you. And here I thought you might´ve come to ask for assistance. But that is so Homeland Security – pointing fingers." He made a fist with his hand and before the two agents had time for their second breath, they were unconscious on the floor, two black clad figures standing above them.

"Unfortunate," he tsk´ed. "Tell Sam to locate their headquarters and leave those," he pointed vaguely at the disregarded men," at their doorstep. Perhaps a little creative this time. Getting a little too close for comfort, are they?" he winked playfully at the two ninjas, who bowed quickly and left.

That was interesting. Now he knew for certain that whoever was checking him out at the moment where pretty certain he was the bad guy and they worked alongside the police. That would have to cease, immediately. Perhaps a little chat wouldn´t hurt.

"Now, come out and play," he mumbled quietly, as his slender fingers flew across the familiar keyboard. He worked for a few hours, his frustration climbing as he was evaded every time. Obviously, someone knew what they were doing. This was a new player.

But as he was about ready to smash his screen in with the rubber ball he kept in his drawer to relieve stress, he finally got some results.

"Oh, he´s clever," he mused. "I can´t track him. But I can connect to his server."

His stomach clenched in anticipation as his programs worked their pre-installed magic to turn on the web-cam. It would be beneficial to observe his new nemesis before making contact. But if this man truly was as good as he advertised through his evading security programs, he wouldn´t fall for an old trick as that.

****

"Holy Shell!" Donnie burst and slid comically down his chair to the floor faster than anyone in the room could blink. From there, he worked the keypad furiously, ignoring the laughter that so obviously came from Mikey.

"Wha-" Mikey started asking, before gripping his sides and bending over in a vain attempt to stop laughing. "Whaddya doing, dude?" he choked out, watching his brother´s frantic movements tone down and become still. "You fell down from the chair," he snickered.

Donnie pushed himself up and into the chair, warily pushing himself away from the computer. Mira had gone pale white and scooted away from the screen almost as fast. Leo and Raph joined them quickly, demanding an explanation.

"Well," Donnie began. "He wants to talk to us."

"Who?" Leo asked, worrying for his brother´s health.

"Who do you think?" Mira snapped. "It´s him. He even managed to turn on the web cam for a second before Don took back control."

"Did he see anything?"

"Did you miss his elegant evasion or would you like it repeated?" Mikey snickered, until Don glared at him.

"No, I doubt it, but he´s still waiting to talk."

"Then put him through," Raph demanded, pushing his way through until he was standing in front of the screen. Mikey threw his arm around him,

"Yeah, let´s show him this ugly face and he´ll be so scared he´ll never bother us again!"

"Shuttup, knucklehead!" Raph pushed him off of him and turned to Leo. "I´ll tell ´im what´s right!"

"Raph, calm down," Leo ordered, narrowing his eyes at the red banded turtle. He then turned to Donatello. "Fine. Let´s talk to him."

"I´ll go get Spencer," Mira hurried. "He´ll want to be a part of this."

Leo reached out and gave Don´s shoulder a telling squeeze. He wasn´t about to wait for permission. Don looked back to confirm and after Leo gave a brief nod, he connected them.

****

The picture shimmered and settled down and allowed the man to get a clear view of… Well, give him a shell and call him a turtle, if it isn't…

"Greetings," he smiled politely, watching carefully, just as he was being watched, for clues of weakness or mistakes. Of course, his screen was filled to the brim with… people. Three turtles, if he was not mistaken. He gave himself a pad on the back for reading up on the Foot´s earlier enemies. Anything else would have been foolish.

"Daniel Malvir," one of the turtle spoke. Fascinating in its own way, but he felt like he knew them. Video-recordings, pictures, reports and witness accounts had all been very helpful and kept him from losing face now.

"Yes, Leonardo," he tried to keep from squirming in delight when the turtle´s eyes narrowed at its name. "I was ever so eager to meet you when I discovered you´ve been.. shall we say overstepping thy boundaries?"

He rested his elbows on the table and leaned closer to the screen.

"Ahh, but you´re not the one who´s been poking around, are you? Tell me, where is Donatello?"

He didn´t need an answer. He read body language as well as spoken and the flickering of the other turtle´s eyes to the turtle in the lower corner spoke louder than words. He settled his cold eyes on the purple-banded turtle.

"It truly is a pleasure," he acknowledged with a brief, respectful nod. "I assume you´ve read up about me."

From what he´d read about this Donatello, he wasn´t one to take charge. He´d offer advice and a level head in a crisis, but he wasn´t dominant. He rarely, if ever, even challenged authority. Which is why it came as quite the surprise when it narrowed it eyes at him and rattled off,

"Former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency. Fired, _deleted_ and with no other option to leave the country, you flee to Japan, where you happen to get tangled in organized crime. Turns out, you´ve got quite an act for it. Climbing the ranks, some by rented force, you take over the Foot´s Japan division and decide to relocate headquarters to here, New York, the perfect location to execute your little plan of revenge against the government."

Daniel leaned back in his chair, having expected leaks from his wiki-page and not such an accurate account of his immediate past. He ran a hand through his hair to gather himself before repositioning himself in front of the screen.

"Haven´t we been mighty clever?" he commented. "But you´ve only seen the surface."

"That revenge isn´t half your act?" the turtle captain, Leonardo, asked. "As if revenge is ever enough with you guys."

He took a little offense to that. _You guys_ – as if he was a common breed.

"What? I´m teaching this country a lesson. You don´t think I should get paid for my efforts?" he scoffed.

"Money is one thing, but power isn´t anywhere on that wish-list of yours?"

"Well, let´s see." Daniel placed a hand on his chin, pretending to think. "I teach the assholes that fired me a lesson, I get paid for doing it and I show everyone that my way of running the country would be marginally better? I see no problem here," he smirked, winking playfully at his audience. Then he grew serious. "Of course I want money. Of course I want power. And I won´t make the same mistakes as my predecessors."

Leonardo leaned forward until he was the only thing on the screen.

"And killing off people to gain that?"

"A necessary means."

Suddenly the camera shook and Daniel lost his smile for a second. The whole screen continued to be a blur until it suddenly froze on two furious amber eyes covered in red.

"You asshole! I´ll personally tear-"

The screen shifted again,

"-with a spoon-"

The camera got dropped to the ground,

"-your pointy ass-"

The camera got picked up and the sound off something breaking,

"-until people will stand in line-"

The screen went black.

"-full of whip cream, you son of-"

Sounds of another scuffle but this time, the camera was carefully picked up and Leonardo was shown. Daniel laughed happily.

"Having a hard time controlling your troops, Captain?" he joked.

"Stop this now, Daniel. This is your warning. We will find you and stop you if you intend to go through with this."

Daniel pretended to consider for a moment before shaking his head regretfully.

"You have no idea what you´re up against. I called you to warn _you_. Back off."

Leonardo was already shaking his head, as Daniel held up a finger.

"Now wait a minute, you might be interested in this. This isn´t your fight. I´ll be willing to this – you back off and I´ll leave your familie and friends alone. You stay out of my way and I´ll stay out of yours. I´ll set you up for life. You´ll get financial security and I won´t lay a hand on you. Go back to your sewers…" he made a show of pretending to wash his hands, "and live in peace. That is my proposal."

He could see the turtle freeze for a moment, and watched as the weakness he had been waiting for emerge. Donatello cut in front of the screen.

"No. What you´re doing is wrong and we will stop you," he stated firmly.

Then the screen turned black. No matter. He now knew exactly how to handle these new adversaries, should they prove more challenging than the average agent.


	8. Chapter 8

Raphael wasn´t claustrophopic. He just didn´t enjoy the feeling of being in small, box-like spaces, like that of the back of a van. The Battleshell was different. For one, it was bigger and he was most often the driver, and two, it was his own genius brother who had created it. That gave a sense of security he didn´t have with a government vehicle, even if the vehicle was also undercover.

So he was feeling a tad uncomfortable, being squeezed together with the three team leaders and a fellow turtle, in a van so small that even sitting down, he had to duck his head.

"T´is the best ya got?" he grumbled, not actually intending for anyone to hear him, but needing to create some sort of distraction from his current predicament. Complaining was one way to go.

"We work on a budget," Michael answered, slightly offended. "And we´re undercover. What did you expect? A limo?"  
"We´re in an ice cream truck. An ice cream truck," he repeated for emphasis. "That´s a fridge," he insisted, pointing at the offending object.

The small window with access to the front seat slit open.

"Aww, Raphie! You never know when a fridge might come in handy! Heavens knows how often I´ve said to Donnie, dude, we need a fridge in the Battleshell!"

Raph resisted the urge to see if his fist could fit through the small window, but being where he was, in the human company he was, he welcomed the familiar banter with his brother. Remembering that he was going in with Mikey, despite it also being in the company of humans, made him feel slightly better. Even if he was annoying.

"Why do you get to sit in the front seat anyway?" he grumbled, dropping the subject of kitchen appliances in a car. He remembered that discussion well.

"Called it," Mikey simply laughed carefree, "Besides, we wouldn´t want everyone running away from your ugly face before we get there."

Temper rising, Raph shot a glare through the small window, now occupied buy bright, blue eyes, surrounded by orange clothe.

He reached up to the latch and smacked it shot, chuckling at the resulting "HEY!"

"I don´t know how you can kid around at a time like this," the balled, and so far quiet, man spoke up. "This is serious. We should be concentrating. Go through the game plan once more."

Raphael studied the man briefly, considering if he would cause any problems. He looked like someone who could handle himself, but he´d studied and watched enough humans to know that his tense posture and clenching fists wasn´t the picture of a calm man.

"Nervous?" he couldn´t help but ask. If his brothers where depending on him to succeed here, then there was no way he was bringing in a bundle of nerves. Timothy, he suddenly remembered, sent a glare his way. Impressive. It wasn´t often Raphael was on the other end of such a glare. He was simply too big.

"As if. I´ve got tons of experience on you, boy," he scoffed. Raph almost snorted in laughter, a rare gesture from him. He was about to retaliate, when the small slot came open again.

"If you assholes don´t shut your cakeholes, I´ll come back there and make the lot of you tremble!" shrieked Juliet, who was driving the van. She turned back to the road with a huff and slowly, half of Michelangelo´s head appeared instead.

"That," he whispered to the guys, "Was. Hot!" his eyes gesturing wildly to their female companion.

Rolling his eyes, Raph once again flicked the slot closed and shook his head in exaggeration.

The van finally came to a slow stop and Raph looked forward to getting out and into the shadows he was so familiar with by now. It was completely dark outside and the street fairly deserted, so he didn´t hesitate going to the back of the truck, reaching out to grab on to he edge of the roof and swinging himself up, out and around, he landed smoothly on the top of the car. He took a good look down the street, locating the skyscraper that was their target, and frowned at the sudden deja-vu. Hadn´t they done this before? Raph grinned devilishly in anticipation of the battle ahead and therefore when Mikey joined him on the roof, he was met with a maniacal grin that made him take a step back.

"You look ready for this," Mikey commented, invisible eyebrows raised. "Forgot that we´re going in incognito? They won´t ever know we´re there, dude."

Raph´s grin settled down a tad, but quickly returned full force.

"Yeah, but when does that ever work?" he smirked, "We´re gonna see some action soon enough."

Mikey grinned at his brother, before turning his attention to the big building as well.

"I can´t believe we have to go through this again," he admitted. "Thought we were finally done fighting."

Raph glanced at his brother.

"How could the mighty Turtle Titan refuse a chance at being the hero?"

Mikey brightened at the mention of his alter ego. Catching the eye of Leo from an apartment window several floors up, he reached back into the car, completely upside down for a moment, and pulled out a back pack. Squatting down next to his brother he started handing him equipment.

"It´s not that," he paused briefly, not sure if he should share this with his toughest brother. Normally, he´d go to Donnie with his concerns, and to Leo with his fears, but he decided that Raph probably understood him better than anyone on this subject.

"I just thought.. We´ve been lucky. I mean, real lucky. How long can we keep that up? How long ´till we lose something we can´t replace?"

Raph kept silence. He knew the old turtle luck usually interfered at bad times, but he´d just wanted to go kick some shell. He´d missed that feeling of being a team. He knew that together were when they shined and he´d missed having his brothers with him when he sought justice (as he called it). He knew the risk, they all did. They just didn´t talk about it.

"We´ve been tougher spots, Mike, we´ll come through. As we always do," he tried reassuring his younger brother.

"This is different though. I´ve never seen Donnie so determined to kick back. And along with the boys in blue, no less!"  
Raph grabbed a headset and fastened it beneath his bandana, listening as Mikey continued.

"I mean, that´s awesome and all. But let´s say we go in, we get the bad guy, "he motioned towards their target building, "and then what? That´s a big building with lots of goons, you know?"

Raph knew that deep down they all had the exact same fear – losing a brother. But it wasn´t something he wanted his youngest brother to even worry about. He should just be the annoying, little knucklehead, not worry about one of them not making it back.

"Mikey," he grabbed his brother´s bandana tails and tugged on them until blue eyes left the pack and met amber ones. "We´re doin´ some good here. We´re helping ´cause we can. Ya know I´m gettin´ all of us out. Ya know I´ve got your back. We´re gettin´ out of t´is. All of us. I´ll make sure of it," he tried driving the point home.

Mikey nodded once, his resolve hardening as he placed his own headset underneath his mask.

"I´m gonna help you with that," he decided and pressed a finger carefully to the side of his head.

"Mikey, on."

Raph nodded once in acceptance and did the same.

"Raph, here."

It took barely a second for the respond,

"Welcome, guys. Are we experiencing any static today?" came the well-known voice of their genius brother.

"_Two guards, guarding the elevator. Mikey, you´re up,"_ Leo took his finger of the call-button and placed his new and improved night vision goggles back on his head. He glanced at Donnie, sitting in front of four screens, showing everything from camera images to building schematics. He hadn´t been too happy when this plan had formed. It was against his better judgment to let them go in alone, but if he had learned anything from being a leader, it was to trust the individuals on his team and he trusted his brothers.

It was the humans he didn´t trust.

Why´d they have to go in with them? Don had been explaining the politics behind an alliance like this, but honestly, he´d much rather work with his brothers and friends alone. Working with the police had too many variables and he´d have to plan for everything, not having the ability to predict strangers.

Checking what their next move was, despite having studied the route they were taking endlessly, he pressed down the button once again,

"_Well done, Mikey. Now, get out of the elevator and into the shaft. Climb to the 65th floor."_

He watched has the three yellow-greenish-red blurs and two more vague green-blue blurs that were the three humans and his two brothers climbed into the shaft and proceeded climbing the building.

"You´re sure he´s not there?" Leo insisted, aiming his improved vision higher to the offending floor.

"He´s not there," Donnie said positively, "He´s at a reunion for Japanese benefactors."

Leo narrowed his eyes confused and turned to ask, but he was met with an already raised hand,

"I don´t know. Don´t ask."

Leo shrugged and turned back to the building. Watching the human signals multiply, he spoke quietly,

"_Lots of activity on the floor you´re passing now. Keep it down."_

"We just need to find out where he´ll strike next. It our only way to stop him. Chances are, he´s moving to another headquarters soon, and once again we´ll have no idea which one is the right one."

"Brilliant, though," Mira commented. When they gave her an odd look she elaborated, "Having several hideout and switching between them." They continued the confused looks. "What? I can´t admire a genius, even if he does misuse his talents?"

Leo narrowed her eyes suspiciously at her, until Don suddenly fessed up as well, "She has a point, Leo. Don´t tell me you didn´t admire Karai? This is basically the same."

Leo dropped his jaw, before defending himself, "I do not admire Karai!"

Leo swore this was the first time Donnie had ever scoffed at him.

"Riiight. Well, you better stop them, they´re going to high, and I´m not talking about your hormones."

Cheeks burning just slightly, Leo turned back to the building across the street. Seeing that his team indeed was a floor too high, he quickly correcting them, ignoring the swearing that reach him from Raph.

"_Pay attention, Fearless!"_

"_Hide."_

The one command was all it took for the group to disappear from sight, the soldier painfully slower than the ninjas. An unnatural stillness blanketed the room, causing Mikey to press his shell harder against the wall, trying to merge the two. His stomach plummeted, expressing an all too familiar feeling. Looking up at the large lamps in the ceiling of the hallway, he spotted Raph easily. As usual, Raph felt the eyes on him immediately and met Mikey´s own in a heartbeat.

"My turtle-sense is tickling," he mouthed, barely. Raph gave a short nod, for once not rolling his eyes at his brother´s antics.

Because he was experiencing the exact same warnings of danger.

Mikey shifted from his hiding place to get a look at what they were hiding from. They´d been doing this a few times already. Leo´s warning, hiding, waiting for guards to pass, then continuing to the mainframe-thingy Donnie needed to talk to. But this wasn´t a guard and his heart sank. All of Mikey´s being was screaming at him in terror, screaming at him to do something, anything just..

_Help her._

He glanced at his older brother, as always when he needed to know what to do, but Raph was starring just as wide eyed at the girl that had just turned the corner.

Oh, shell, she looked miserable. Her clothes where hanging onto her by barely a tread, her hair was a mess, torn off in placed and she could barely walk. She was bleeding heavily, every wound evident of precisely executed torture and her eyes was dried out and red, her dirty face sporting tear tracks that had long since run their course. She looked like she had no more to give.

He was ready to scramble to her side, pull her close and just comfort her with everything he had and simply save her – not once considering the differences that might cause her to cringe away or fear.

And he definitely would have done so, if his damn ninja training hadn´t already automatically kicked in. He´d already seen.

"_Expand you´re mind. Take everything in. Only when you perceive it all, will you be a true master of your surroundings."_

He´d been the last to master it, but he had done it. Those lessons had made him more aware than ever and he was almost cursing the skill now – partly because it made it so much harder to prank his brothers, but now because it made him aware of things he´d rather not be.

It was almost absentmindedly he reached out and grabbed onto Timothy´s clothing to stop his progress. Without taking his eyes off the girl, he was aware of Raph swinging down to stop both Juliet and Michael.

His heart basically cracked at their predicament. His eyes swam, even before he´d thought out all the possibilities and he was completely frozen.

The girl, perhaps fourteen, perhaps fifteen years old, was limping heavily, muttering pleas for help and the innocence of her eyes made Mikey cover his mouth with his hand in shock.

Because the girl had a bomb strapped to her entire midsection. And it was very much on.

Finally, the three humans seemed to understand the situation and they all stopped trying to get to her. He heard Juliet gasp quietly, Timothy make a quick intake of breath and Michael mutter a string of curse words he knew Splinter would have his shell if he repeated. He heard Raph explain the situation to Leo, praying that his oldest brother had a plan tucked away for a situation like this.

But shell, the girl kept coming, now crawling desperately towards security. Obviously she saw the badges and familiar equipment of what should always symbolize help and protection. She recognized the good guys and now she was scrambling to get to their side, relief evident in her eyes.

She truly believed she was going to be saved.

And that´s when Timothy took his gun and pointed it right at her. In a strong but commanding voice he ordered her to stay back. But the girl didn´t understand, and Mikey realized what he hadn´t before.

The girl was speaking japanese.

All his brothers were fluent in japanese. It was the first language they´d learned and he hadn´t thought of her mumblings to be anything but understandable. But she didn´t understand _them_ and she kept going, now crawling towards them.

"Stop!" Timothy yelled again, with no result. Mikey was about to shout out in japanese, when Raph beat him to it. He called at her to please, stop moving, that they´d help her, if she´d just stay there, and the desperate tone in his voice that was well concealed to everyone else, was making Mikey bite his lip, hard.

But the girl was too far out, she wasn´t listening, wasn´t hearing anything and despite doing everything in their power to make her stop, including handsignals and anything they could think off, she kept going. The group couldn´t help but take a few steps back, not taking they´re eyes off the bomb, strapped around the girls chest, but moving away caused her to pursue them even more desperately. She´d started mumbling nonsense. Hurt and confused, the poor girl couldn´t think straight anymore.

He heard Michael, joining in on the radio, asking for orders. But the radio was completely silent, and Mikey knew it wasn´t because of any technical difficulties. Leo had no idea what they should do,

"_Just wait a sec!" _Leo finally answered frantically.

And all of this took place within very few seconds and when the girl suddenly gained momentum enough to get to her feet and lunge towards the nearest human, desperate for help.

"NO!" he heard Raph roar and Mikey saw him throw himself toward Timothy, but the loud bang was unmistakable. Eyes widened, not at all expecting anyone would do such a thing, Mikey screamed at him to stop, but it was too late.

The girl slumped to the floor, dead.

Not a second later, the bomb started frantically beeping and Mikey threw himself away from the bomb, grabbed the stunned Timothy on the way, as he saw Raph save Juliet and Michael and throw themselves down.

The bomb went off, his ears ringing, and the pressure and heat pushing him away, Mikey got one last glance at the young girl before her body disappeared in the blinding fire.

_**A/N**_

_**I´d very much like to hear your thoughts on this chapter - it felt harder to write and I´d like to know how I did:)  
**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N Warning: Some swearing in this chapter. Nothing too bad.**_

Spencer had never had a mission fail so badly or have that grave consequences. Originally, it had been a good idea. They´d known little of the enemy, therefore, now that they knew who he was, they´d infiltrate the most suspicious facility in his name. Then Donatello had discovered that Mr. Malvir had ten special buildings that had higher security and insurance than the others, yet were marked as typical offices all over New York. A stake-out revealed very few office-type employers turning up for work – not nearly enough for what the building promised.

Narrowing down the ten buildings was more difficult, or so he was told. They´d had a look at activity, shipping, paychecks, archives – anything that could give them a solid guess at where Malvir himself was located.

When they´d found their best bet, they agreed that Michelangelo, Raphael, Michael, Timothy and Juliet should enter the building. Then Spencer himself had finally come in handy. He´d secured an empty apartment across from the chosen building, giving Leonardo, Donatello, Mira and James the perfect placement to aid the team going in.

He was still feeling a bit smuck after watching Mira and James geek out about the goggles Donatello had brought. Having it revealed that Donatello had built them himself, time was easily passed as they´d waited for the other team to get into position. The only one who´d stayed tense and alert had been Leonardo. So far, he´d gained a lot of respect for the blue-masked turtle, as he had for his purple-banded brother. He knew the head of a family when he saw one. And for one exposed to danger as much as he expected this particular one was, he easily recognized the fleeting looks, the tense stance, the vigilant posture. He doubted Leonardo had even gotten any sleep since they´d started working together.

But he was positive things were going to work out. After all, he´d seen how surprisingly quickly Mira and James had bonded with Donatello. It didn´t appear to be a problem for them how his skin was green or how he typed faster than them, even with three fingers. It didn´t seem to matter that their new friend carried around maybe 200 pounds of shell on his back or that he was technically speaking with a beak instead of a human mouth.

Because, as Mira had explained to him, when he´d ask how she was coping, Donatello was smart. He was walking, talking, acting exactly like a human. She even admitted she thought she easily could find a close friend in him. Working with him, she´d discovered much of what Spencer himself had already concluded. Donatello was, to put it simple, really nice and really clever. Had his appearance been different, _human_, he´d had made it far in their world. James had offered that if Donnie was a normal sixteen year old boy, he´d probably have a full scholarship to whatever school he chose, and honestly, he wouldn´t have been surprised if Donatello would have already surpassed school and gone on to research or invent whatever he wanted with all the founding he needed.

When Spencer had protested at the praise, James had only quietly said, "It´s the sad truth."

And wasn´t it just?

When the two teams got to work, he´d gotten a glimpse of the ninjas he was working with. He swore, he was watching the two turtles sit on that van, talking, heard Leonardo give the go-signal and next thing he knew they were gone.

Oh, they were good.

And for the second time since meeting the turtles, he´d felt hope that they´d might pull this off. That they could take down this massive rebellion in the making and stop this before more people got hurt. They´d just need to get in, grab whatever information they could about Malvir´s next move so they could catch him in the act, and then get out. He was feeling positive.

Well, until everything went wrong.

That bastard. He´d known they were coming. He´d probably been watching it happen, sitting with his finger just about the detonator, waiting for them to go help the girl, only to blow them all up. This monster couldn´t possibly be human.

He´d been standing behind Donatello. He´d been watching over his shoulder, watching the screen but staying silent throughout it all, counting on the younger members of the team to handle whatever would be thrown their way. But this.. Who could handle this? In all his years as a police officer, he´d never encountered a criminal that was so ruthless.

Donatello had uttered a small prayer. He´d never considered the turtles to be religious and he didn´t particularly think that they were, so he knew the situation was rather desperate when Donatello turned to the least likely source of help at the moment. Yet, Spencer also prayed.

Leonardo had completely frozen and for the first time he´d heard the prober turtle curse and he knew they were screwed. Spencer could only watch helplessly as the miserably, tortured soul tried to near her rescuers and then things suddenly went fast. He heard Leonardo beg for them to slow down so he could think, saw Mira and James sitting unmovable in their chairs, knowing there was nothing they could do to help the situation and felt himself lean back against the wall for support.

Then he watched on the screen as Timothy panicked, Raphael made a wild attempt at stopping him and Michelangelo frantically cried out for it all to never have happened.

Then the bomb had gone off.

Half on purpose and half forced, the team had desperately jumped out the window, 65th floors up and Spencer felt his heart lurch and his fingers tremble as they disappeared from the screen and it flickered and died, having been destroyed by the explosion.

Donatello had thrown himself off the chair and toward the window, scrambling to look out and see what could only be his brothers falling to their deaths. And Spencer stood with bowed head, in sorrow until he heard Leonardo order in a shaken, but still strong voice, "Don, go get the chopper. I want them off and away from that building."

Spencer had almost snapped his neck in his hurry to see what had happened. He´d never felt such relief when he saw his team, hanging literally by a thread from the building. He´d quickly grabbed a pair of goggles, revealing that they were hanging from two grappling hooks. Raphael was almost covered by Michael and Juliet, both squeezing him pretty tight, judging from the expression on his face. Michelangelo was holding on to Timothy, and Spencer noticed with a shock that tears were silently streaming down his face.

He was surprised Michelangelo didn´t just drop Timothy right then and there.

But the turtle was holding on to the man tightly and didn´t give any indication of dropping him to his death.

They weren´t there long, not that he really saw their rescue since Donatello had cloaked the machine. They were quickly pulled up and seemingly disappeared into nothing and finally he completely lost sight of them.

And this was where he was waiting now. Outside the warehouse, feeling odd watching an invisible helicopter land, if that was at all possible. Johnny and Cooper had been charged with taking down all the equipment at the borrowed apartment and he´d driven the ice cream van back. He hadn´t known how Leonardo had gotten back, but there the turtle was, waiting a few feet away from him.

The leaves on the trees surrounding their headquarters rustled, and Spencer took a firm hold of his cap and stepped back. The air shimmered and the transport appeared, landing a little more frantically than it had the first time he´d seen it. Out jumped Raphael immediately, his face contorted in anger. He was dragging Timothy behind him, a fist in his bulletproof vest. Reaching the wall of the warehouse, he slammed Timothy against the wall, hard, making his teeth rattle. Spencer flinched, seeing Raphael get up close and personal, and he expected him to start raving and screaming. Instead he did something a hundred times more terrifying.

He leaned in real close. And he growled.

"You humans, "he spat, "You disgust me! She was an innocent girl, you son of a bitch!"

Timothy cringed, trying to wrestle free and then suddenly froze. Spencer, and Timothy apparantly, noticed what they hadn´t before. The fork thing was pointing right at the end of his last rib, at a bended position that allowed smooth sailing to the heart. Timothy swallowed heavily.

"S-she was going to kill us," he finally forced. "It was us or her. Kill or be killed," his voice gaining strength as he continued. "You of all people should know that."

Spencer knew he was referring to the obvious animalistic traits, but Raphael was harder to shake than that. His eyes narrowed at the comment and for a moment, Spencer honestly feared for Timothy´s life and considered why on Earth he´d brought these vicious animals here and thought he could co-operate with them. But then Raphael did something that surprised even him.

He gave Timothy one last smack against the wall, dropped him and stomped away angrily. One last look at Timothy revealed unshed tears and his trembling form, and he was honestly surprised he hadn´t peed himself.

And he had to reconsider. Who was truly the human here?

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT  
**

"Raphael!"

"Get the hell outta here, Leo."

"Raph, please stop."

"I don´t wanna to talk to ya."

"Hamato Raphael! You will listen to me!"

Raph immediately turned on his brother, his rage threatening to burst.

"And why should I?! You had nothing to say when we needed it! We could have prevented this, Fearless!"

Leo prepared himself for the onslaught that would undoubtedly come, but surprisingly, Raph turned and smashed his fist into the metal instead, impressively leaving a rather big dent behind. He leaned against the wall, closing his eyes tightly and Leo knew his brother well enough not to say anything.

Raph was trying to restrain himself, as to not start a fight. It was a new thing for them since the Winther´s incident and Leo respected the effort Raph put into not fighting as much. The silence settled heavily between them and Leo took the opportunity to listen to the sounds the night had to offer. It was unusually silent, but they were in a fairly remote area and he expected as much. The moon was casting an eerie light, just enough for them to see comfortably. He could vaguely hear voices as everyone moved inside the warehouse. The voices slowly disappear as the big doors were slid closed. Raph shifted to glide down the wall and sit on the ground and Leo quickly joined him. He was waiting for Raph to speak first and when it finally came, he wasn´t expecting how loud it was in the stillness.

"Why´re we workin´ with these people?" he asked in a gruff voice, penetrating the silence that had fallen between them.

"Because we need whatever help we can get." There wasn´t much more to be said.

"They don´t understand us. Why should we even try? Did ya hear him? _Kill or be killed_. As if we´re living in the jungle," he scoffed angrily, battling his desire to pound Timothy into the ground.

"Concrete jungle," Le muttered humorlessly. "You know there´s only one thing we can do."

"Kill the jackass?"

"No. Raph, this is going to be hard to hear, but.. I´m not glad he did what he did, but.. He has a point. You could´ve died."

Raph looked up angrily, not believe what Leo was saying.

"So?" he questioned, "It had better been us! She was innocent, Leo! She had her whole life in front of her! I´m not letting that bastard getting away with it! He murdered her! He should have saved her!"

"How could he? Had you gone near her, the bomb would have went off and you´d all have died. I… I froze. At the time, I couldn´t choose between my brothers and an innocent, at least not when there was a chance to save her, but.. I would have done the same."

Raph narrowed his eyes and stood up violently.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! We never kill-!"

"And we didn´t!" Leo had quickly risen with him. "And neither did Timothy! It was unfortunate, but-"

"Unfortunate?! Shell, Leo, I don´t even know you anymore!"Raph yelled. "We should have saved her!" he finally cried frustrated.

"But what could we have done! You have got to let it go!" Leo felt his temper rising. "This is for the greater good!"

"So that´s it, huh? A lesser evil for the greater good?"

"But it wasn´t us who did it!"

"We didn´t stop it either!"

Leo shook his head and took a deep breath. This was getting out of hand. He´d followed Raph to help him, to see if Raph could handle it. Not to fight.

"Raph, there was nothing you could have done. You tried. I saw you tried," he pleaded.

"I didn´t try hard enough."

Leo felt his heart constrict as he consider the possibility.

"You´d have taken the bullet, wouldn´t you? If you could have?" he asked quietly. Raph didn´t answer and they stood in silence, starring at each other. Then finally, Raph broke the connection, his eyes finding the ground.

"Yeah. She shouldn´t have died. She shouldn´t have been a part of this."

"I don´t want you to ever think like that," Leo´s voice came out hoarse and his eyes blurred slightly. "I don´t care what Master Splinter taught us. If it´s us or them. Raph, you´d better choose them. I´m not losing a brother."

Raph shook his head disappointedly. "I´m sorry, Leo. I can´t do that." He made to leave, but right before passing Leo, he stopped by his shoulder. Their father had taught them that all life was precious. Ninjutsu was a dangerous weapon. It was a double-edged sword that could be used for both good and bad. Not teaching them to fight hadn´t been an option. The world was a way too dangerous place for them.

Therefore Splinter had used at least as much time, if not more, to ingrain onto them a strong sense of honor.

Of justice.

Of life.

It meant they didn´t use their skills for crimes. But it had also meant that the turtles always rushed into trouble, not being able to stand back and watch anyone suffer, not if they could do something about it. It had meant their lives were a lot more complicated than it could be. It meant that they often carried the weight of the world on their shoulders. How many times had they saved it now? But it also meant that Raphael would, without hesitation, sacrifice his life for one innocent girl.

And that scared Leo more than anything.

"I know you´d do it too," Raph said quietly. Leo had to strain to hear him because of his gruff voice and still slightly existing accent. "And it scares the shell outta us. But it´s the right thing to do. "

Leo felt a single tear slide through his mask and down his cheek. He struggled to speak his next words.

"War doesn´t determine who´s right, Raph. War determines who´s left."

Raph looked out at New York. He´d always loved the sight, especially at night. The lights and constant bustling of people, the liveliness of the city was fascinating to him. He loved it.

"Yeah. And I´m fighting for it to be the girl."

**_A/N Feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks very much to everyone who reviewed! Also, big thanks to Snetten for beta-ing, letting me ramble about TMNT pretty much constantly and helping me with this story. If you like Twilight, go check her out:)  
_**


	10. Chapter 10

As a scientist and engineer, Donatello believed in a few constants in life.

The speed of light in vacuum.

The gravitational constant.

The elementary charge.

Michelangelo´s energy and inability to sit still and shut up.

So he became worried sick when Mikey had sat quietly next to him on the chopper. When he hadn´t said a word or moved a muscle. Because Mikey was all about movement. _Moving _was how he fought. _Moving _was how he coped. _Moving_… was how he lived.

Even the way he had exited the chopper had been in a calm, orderly fashion. There wasn´t any energetic bounce from the seat, any race to get out before Raph, any extravagant flip from the door and it was just boring. He didn´t even glance at Raph dragging Timothy out the door. He just walked right past everyone, unnoticed, which were unheard of, and continued into the warehouse.

Of course, Donnie noticed. How could he not?

He knew Raph and Leo watched. They kept an eye on them at all times, especially these last few days, but did they really _see_? Maybe it was because Mikey was Donnie´s _only_ little brother. Normally that resulted in Mikey always being able to persuade him into a few rounds of any game or take a break from whatever he was doing to look at a broken video consol. But it also resulted in Donnie being extra aware if Mikey was sad. When those blue eyes would dimmer and his skateboard would go untouched. Then Donnie would wait for Mikey to be ready to talk. If it came to it, he´d try to cheer him up himself, even if it usually resulted in some nasty payback from Raph, or even sometimes Leo if he had been extraordinarily clever.

Luckily it was extremely rare that Mikey was sad. A prank combination between Mikey and Donnie was… dangerous stuff. Absolutely hilarious, but somewhat nasty for the receiver.

Normally, a Mikey-depression was brought on by a rejection of some sort, be it by a brother or a human. Usually, he´d tried to be extra friendly during a rescue, in hopes of gaining a friend, only to be shot down by those nasty sounds women emitted when scared.

Donnie didn´t have time to be bitter, though. He had to find his little brother. Pulling off the headgear and turning off the engine, he followed in Mikey´s footstep, bypassing everyone quietly. It was much more common for him though. He was good at being swallowed by the background and he didn´t mind it when the others nearly forgot he was there. It gave him time to work on his projects, without being apart from his brothers and when they needed him, he would step forward and help.

But Mikey didn´t go unnoticed. You always knew where Mikey was. Always. Be it in the kitchen or on his way to his room, in the dojo or even in the bathroom. To Donnie´s horror, he realized he didn´t actually know where Mikey had gone.

"Mikey?" he called to the still empty warehouse. It was a rather large building, basically containing one large room where they´d set up all their gear and the round table where they had group meetings. There were three small offices, a cleaning supply closet and a worn down toilet. It hadn´t been used for years and no one had yet decided to chance it.

Guessing one of the offices was the best bet, he headed for the first door and peeked in. The room was completely empty. Realizing he hadn´t really looked at this place and only been in the main room where the computers were, he looked around more carefully as he made his way for the second door. Pushing it open, it revealed a small kitchen with a coffee maker, a pool table and a couch. He almost closed the door and moved for the third, when a short second later, his brain caught up with his eyes and told him what he´d seen, making him quickly backpedal.

"Mikey?" he asked, trying to get the attention of the turtle sprawled out on the couch. The back of it had faced the door and if it hadn´t been for the green feet barely sticking out at the end, he wouldn´t have noticed him. Mikey still hadn´t answered him, so Don went in for a closer look.

And what he saw would pretty much break every big brother´s heart.

"Oh, Mikey," he muttered and leaned over the back of the couch to see him better. Mikey was lying on his shell, a feat only possible on the softest of couches, and he was currently covering his face with a pillow, yet the raging sobs that shook his body, was way too obvious for him to hide anything. "There was nothing you could have done."

Mikey suddenly sat up, drying his eyes furiously, surprised that he wasn´t alone anymore. Donnie quickly placed a hand on his shoulder, which calmed him somewhat and Mikey leaned back against the couch to look up at his brother with red, puffy eyes.

"I saw her," he said quietly, his breath hitching as he caught his brother´s eyes. "Right before she died. Right before the bomb went off."

"I´m sorry, bro."

Mikey shook his head, clearing his throat softly, "She knew. She´d given up long ago, but the look in her eyes," his words grew stronger as he explained. "Don, we gave her hope and then we ripped it away. She didn´t want to die. But at that moment she knew, she wasn´t going to make it."

Donnie swung his legs across the couch and sat next to Mikey who didn´t need to be told to cuddle up to him in search of comfort. They weren´t hugging, just sat pressed up against each other´s sides, both knowing what a close call it had been.

They sat in silence for a while, hearing the others enter the warehouse, though no one came into the room. Mikey finally turned his head and asked in what Donnie could only describe as a child-like fashion,

"Is she in a better place now? Do you think she went to heaven?"

He didn´t know how to answer that. It wasn´t a question he _could_ answer. But uttering his most hated sentence of _I don´t know_, was something he refused to do and it wasn´t what Mikey needed to hear.

As a scientist and engineer, Donatello didn´t believe in a few aspects of life.

He wasn´t religious. He didn´t believe in God. But what he did believe was that there was a body and there was a soul. Harmony between the two was what they sought through ninjutsu and through meditation. He knew exactly what happened to the body when it died. And the soul? He didn´t think there was a heaven, or hell for that matter. He didn´t know what happened after, but he was more inclined to believe it was more one big ball of nothingness. Once you died, it was over. Like one long, deep sleep, the kind where you don´t feel like you´ve slept at all because you haven´t been aware of it. Except, you wouldn´t wake up to find out you´d only been sleeping.

So saying there was a heaven went against his own belief. But looking into Mikey´s eyes at that moment, he didn´t care.

"Yeah. I think she is. I think she´s in heaven now."

And he actually did.

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT**

Johnny didn´t have to think long to order pizza all around. They needed an evening of relaxation, especially after this disaster. He hadn´t been there when it had happened, but Spencer had told him after calling him in to clean up and he felt so sorry for the girl. But if anything, it made him all the more determined to get this Malvir guy. He was going to be stopped.

But first!

"Gentlemen! And ladies," he added, smiling charmingly. "I´ve brought food!" he announced, placing the stacks of pizza on the round table. Their lack of reaction was a little sad, Johnny thought. He´d seen Donatello and Mikey come out of their temporary kitchen when he called, but the enthusiasm he usually associated with the hyper, bright turtle had been long gone. Michael and Juliet had joined them soon after, quiet as well. Michael grabbed two boxes and walked off, probably to find and share with Timothy. Juliet had tried engaging a conversation with Michelangelo about pizza topics and Johnny was pleased to see some color return to the young turtle´s eyes as he started explaining some weird sounding pizza to her.

He saw Spencer grab a slice and Mira and James easily sliding up next to Donatello to talk. Then Raphael and Leonardo entered and he didn´t miss the worried look Donatello had sent Raphael. When they had passed them, he noticed with surprise that as Raphael walked past, he reached out and gave a little push at Donatello´s shoulder, very briefly.

The resulting small smile from Donatello spoke volumes and Johnny knew at least three turtles would get through it. He knew it had been hard on them to lose that girl and he admired them all the more for it. He didn´t find it odd that Leonardo had retreated to his corner, in his thinking pose, or when it didn´t take five minutes before a warm pizza box was dumbed in the turtle´s lap by Michelangelo, only for the youngest to promptly walk back to Juliet and continue their conversation.

Watching the leader starting to eat, he knew they´d be all right. They had each other.

Briefly, he felt sad that he was an only child. He could only imagine what it would be like to have brothers. It was probably both good and bad. He had to admit, his parents had spoiled him rotten, but a reality check from Spencer had brought him down to earth, forcefully. Now he felt much more privileged and lucky to have what he had.

Grabbing a slice of his own, he decided to go join Michelangelo and Juliet. He honestly thought the turtles were cool. There wasn´t much more to it than that and he was going to spend as much time as he could with them now, since he had an odd feeling that the second this was over, they´d disappear. Looking around, he found Juliet alone and couldn´t really spot Mikey anywhere.

"Where´d he go?" he asked Juliet, who simply motioned her head to the small kitchen they´d installed when they first came. Johnny nodded and hurried to find his new friend. Honestly, he´d been competing a bit with Juliet about Mikey´s attention, finding it amazing that the stuck up girl he knew from the academy, suddenly had opened up and actually actively sought out another beings company. Even if it was a turtle.

"Mikey? Dude, you in here?" he peeked around the doorway but froze solid in the opening. He watched for a moment, the sound of items being destroyed and cursing reaching his ear, then turned around. Spotting Donatello at the table, he hurriedly interrupted his conversation with Mira, dropping his slice of pizza on the floor.

"Donatello, your brothers are fighting! What should we do?!" he whispered, thinking that perhaps he´d been wrong and those two had really been mad at each other for some reason.

Donatello briefly spared him a look and shrugged,

"Just don´t get in the way."

Johnny vacated his spot next to the door as a particularly nasty bang was heard and he hurried to where Donatello was sitting, waving his arms comically.

"But they´re killing each other!" he protested, motioning wildly towards the room. Before Donatello could answer, Michelangelo suddenly came sprinting out of the room, laughing whole heartedly, followed closely by Raphael growling words no one even tried to understand. They only barely made it past the table, which Michelangelo chose to run around. That turned out to be his mistake, when Raphael suddenly launched himself over it, making Johnny yelp and duck. Tackling Michelangelo, they both tumbled to the ground and a wrestling match commenced.

"Why aren´t you stopping them?" Johnny rose from his position. Ignored, Donatello followed them with his eyes and suddenly yelled out,

"Knock down any computers and you´re doing my chores for a month!"

Disbelievingly, Johnny watched as the wrestling match switched direction away from the equipment. Donatello finally took pity on the poor boy.

"Don´t worry, Raph would never hurt him."

"How can you be so sure?" Johnny asked doubtfully, catching Raphael attempt a spin kick.

"Well, for one he rarely ever actually catch Mikey, and we´re family," he stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Why would he want to?"

Johnny turned to watch the still escalating fight and he decided he might be able to find a few reasons

"What´s wrong, Raphie? Not fast enough to hit me? Or are you not good enough? Wanna take me on, big boy?" Mikey challenged. Aggravated, Raphael tried a straight punch, but Mikey stepped out of range and flashed his palm at Raph´s fist, baffling Raphael into stopping his attack briefly.

"Hah!" Mikey announced, "Paper beats rock!" he stated victoriously.

Irritated, Raphael tried to slap his hand away, but once again, Mikey dodged it and flashed two separate fingers in his brother´s face.

"Gotcha! Scissors beat paper!" He laughed confidently, and Raphael groaned in irritation.

Suddenly, both got distracted when the entire building started shaking. Johnny watched as everyone went into action, once again, Mira and James kept a steady hold on the most important hardware, Juliet hurried outside to see what was happening. Timothy and Michael were nowhere to be seen and Spencer uneasily had a hand on his gun. Leonardo was suddenly beside him and Donatello.

"Donnie?" he half yelled over the rumbling noises to be heard.

"Uhh.." Donnie looked around as chairs and equipment was knocked over and he grabbed the table for support. Finally he admitted, "Insufficient data, boss!"

Johnny had unfortunately grabbed onto an office chair with wheels for support, which had him sprawled on the ground surprisingly fast.

"What the devil is going on here?!" Spencer yelled, helping Johnny up.

He didn´t have to wait long to find out. Johnny saw Leonardo draw his swords, Donatello swirling his… stick? Michelangelo was holding two smaller sticks and Raphael was looking at the ceiling, his big forks pointing upwards.

Glancing up himself, Johnny gulped.


	11. Chapter 11

Mira was not a fighter. That was not something you learned as a technician and it wasn´t something you were ever supposed to need. So when it suddenly started raining with men in black ninja outfits, screaming a bunch of _hi´s_ and _ya_´s, she didn´t exactly do the most sensible thing.

"AHHHHH!"

Everything was suddenly going incredibly fast and after screaming her fright for everyone to hear, she didn´t know what to do. So she basically just stood there, waiting for something to guide her in what to do next. The answer came soon as a particularly scary ninja came rushing towards her, with obvious intent to take her down on the run. He came at her wildly, with a sword prepared to slash and had it not been for the sudden pull on her belt from behind, she´d have been sliced!

Being swung around, she found her rescuer in the form of Don, holding his bo(as he´d told her it was called) horizontally, catching the sword in its downswing. He hurriedly swung the bo to one side, letting the sword glide down the wood, only to let the bo retreat back sharply as soon as the sword came loose and smack the ninja hard in the face. Turning back to her, he asked if she was okay, but before she could answer, he yelped and reached out for her arm. Pulling her towards him, he swung her around under his arm as if they were dancing and kicked the suddenly appearing ninja that had attempted to hit her from behind.

Dazed from all the manhandling and with a poor balance, she fell back into a chair.

"What is-?"

"Duck!"

She did and Don´s bo came flying over her head, letting the grunt she heard from behind inform her that he´d hit his target. Confused, she sat back up.

"Who are these-AHH!"

Hands gripping the chair tightly, she was suddenly sent scurrying over the floor by a vicious kick to her seat from Donatello, the wheels on the chair complaining loudly. Barely managing to glance back, she saw that Donatello had saved her for the third time in just perhaps ten seconds, when she noticed six shuriken stuck in the ground where she´d just been.

Forgetting to see where she was going, she was terrified when she suddenly came to an abrupt halt and was picked up and thrown over a shoulder. Getting some sense back, she attempted to get her hands free from the stranger´s grip, but before she had a chance to make it work, she was suddenly falling to the floor.

Hitting it hard, she sat up, cradling her head, "What is going on?" she whined and shrieked when she was roughly pulled up from the ground.

"What? You didn´t expect the Foot to kick?" she heard a snicker and looked up into the blue eyes of Mikey. She opened her mouth to answer but it sharply smacked shut when she was suddenly pushed behind him, making room for Mikey to twirl his nunchaks.. nunchogs… something and give the ninja behind her a broken jaw. About to protest by the violent handling once she caught her breath, she once again gave speaking a try, only to be cut off rudely, when Mikey yelled at her to get down. Instincts made her obey and not a second after she was pulled back by her feet, just enough for a sword to impale the ground inches in front of her nose.

She honestly was scared now, but the fast way the things were happening didn´t allow her to feel the fear as much. She desperately scooted away from the blade and ended up curled up against Mikey´s legs. Except Mikey didn´t wear clothes?

"Oh sh-"

Suddenly Mikey was fighting the ninja faster than she could blink. Their fight took them all around her and she quickly curled herself into a ball, hoping to avoid being stepped on. She felt Mikey had a few close calls, the way he was almost straddled over her at one point. When she felt the fight had moved away from her, she took a quick look around and noticed the exit. A quick sprint and she´d be out of here!

Gathering her courage, she got to her feet and started running, eyes only for the exit. That wasn´t the most sensible idea, as whatever pounded into her had realized and suddenly she was pulled behind a knocked over table, startling when small pointy metal things came thudding through the wood.

"Arrows," a deep voice explained, which she identified to be Raph´s. "You okay?" Having totally given up on speaking, she merely grunted, earning a raised eyebrow from the turtle. School hadn´t prepared her for this! Sure, she´d heard the speech several times that school was nothing like real life, but she´d thought they´d been exaggerating! Her fast thinking brain was no use to her now and she cursed the day she said no to that self-defense class.

Not that she thought a few kicks in the groin were going to save her now.

Realizing that perhaps she had the chance to speak, she attempted it, only to glare angrily when Raph shushed her. The nerve! Opening her mouth again, she was about ready to scream and rage, if it wasn´t for the ceiling suddenly falling down. She took a deep breath to prepare her last scream and didn´t hear the cursing from beside her. What she felt, though, was the air being forced from her lungs as Raph pushed her violently out of the way, himself jumping to the other side to evade the metal plates the roof once consisted of crashing to the ground.

Dazed, she remembered that she was now exposed to arrows and thought her best bet was to follow her original plan to get to the exit. This time, though, she didn´t have time to get her feet, before she was picked up by someone. This time, she didn´t dare struggle, because her muddled brain registered that her carrier had a shell and that during the past two minutes, she´d been saved several times each by guys wearing a shell.

Feeling the stress build up, she barely heard someone yell,

"GUNS!"

And the following sounds of machine guns being emptied. She didn´t really register that a retreat had been called for or that she was hanging limply from someone´s sharp shoulder. Her head was pounding, her ears were ringing and she was a technician for crying out loud!

Mira was not a fighter.

And then everything turned black.

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT**

Slowly gaining consciousness, Mira wasn´t surprised to find her head pounding. It was quiet though, more quiet than she´d ever heard, considering she´d lived in New York her whole life. She was however surprised that she was laying on something soft and opening her eyes, she noticed a sort of primitive medical bed. Looking around the room, she noted it looked a bit like she was in a basement, with pipes sticking out here and there in the ceiling. There was several medical supplies and equipment, yet it looked different than the hospital standard. It was much more rough and homemade looking.

Her mind putting together the clues, she decided that they probably _were_ homemade. Looking up, she spotted the IV stand was a coat hanger, yet following the tube, she was relieved to see, wasn´t made out of straws, but actually clean tubes and a prober needle and everything else seemed to be in order. She somehow doubted she was being held captive.

Noticing movement on the other side of the room, she spotted Don with relief. He was sitting hunched over a laptop, rubbing his head a few times as if he had a headache. Curiously, Mira propped herself up,

"Whatcha working on?" Her voice came out a bit hoarser than she´d expected, but she hadn´t forgotten all the screaming she´d been doing and chalked it up to that. Don looked up at her and smiled relieved, but he seemed reserved.

"You´re awake," he stated. She smiled coyly at him and rolled her eyes,

"Yessir."

He smirked slightly at her attitude and finally decided to get up and go to her. Sitting down in the chair next to the bed, that she´d only just noticed (for some reason there were four surrounding it) he sighed heavily.

"You wanna fill me in?" she asked quietly, sensing this wasn´t gonna have a happy ending. Yet. He met her eyes and nodded,

"Well, Malvir must have found us. I´m still working on how he did that."

She nodded. She´d expected as much.

"And then?"

"Then we fought and we were doing pretty good. Until the Foot changed tactics. Apparently, they´ve changed a bit more than we expected under the guidance of Malvir."

"They brought guns," she stated, suddenly worried that someone had gotten hurt.

"Yeah. It was easier before, when they were led by Karai. The Foot had rules, guidelines, a sense of honor. It was always ninja against ninja, even if it were forty against four, but that was something we could count on. Guns were considered uncivilized at both sides and we followed traditions when we fought. But that´s definitely changed now."

"Is anyone…?" she was afraid to ask. She´d grown close with her new team and she hated to think they´d lost someone.

"Leo ordered a retreat," Don continued, ignoring her. "He´s the one who carried you out."

"Yeah, I think I was pretty much passed from turtle to turtle," she muttered. "Thanks for saving me, by the way."

"No problem."

Seeming reluctant to continue the story, Mira let him have a moment to collect his thoughts. She already knew they had definitely lost someone and she dreaded what he had to tell her. Sitting up straight in the chair, Donatello continued.

"I took you and Juliet with me in the chopper. You´d passed out at that point."

She was relieved he didn´t seem to think of her any differently from passing out. Honestly, she was embarrassed it had happened and she had no defense. She´d been scared and everything had happened too fast.

"Raph and Mikey created a distraction by calling the Battleshell inside. Remote control," he explained at her confused look. "It caused enough chaos for us to escape. Spencer, Johnny and James went with them. And Leo and Timothy escaped with the tunnel digger. They couldn´t follow them underground."

Mira mentally counted the team off in her head. "And Robert and Michael? And Cooper?"

Becoming quiet, Don met her eyes. "Cooper wasn´t there, luckily. Michael and Robert.. didn´t make it."

Feeling tears threaten to fall, she turned her head away. She hadn´t really known the two boys or spend any time with them. Robert had rarely been there, since Andrew was kicked out he´d lost interest and they weren´t about to call him and beg for him to come. As the only tactical advisor left, he´d only been there right before their failed mission and when they´d returned. He didn´t normally work in the field. He sat behind the desk and told the field people how to do their job better.

And Michael she only knew as a previous SWAT leader and a guy with one hell of an aim. Or that´s what his file said about him. Now she regretted not getting to know him better. Having a few quiet moments, Mira suddenly spoke up,

"How come they hadn´t taken out any of the transports before coming in?"

Donatello gave her a vague smile,

"The chopper had been camouflaged. Luckily," he added. "I hadn´t noticed, but Mikey actually had the foresight to park the tunnel digger in the ground. The hole was on the other side of the building. I guess they just didn´t notice."

"And the Battleshell?"

"She´s not gonna let just anyone ride her," he vaguely said, a twinkle in his eyes. She couldn´t help but smile with him.

"So everyone else got out okay?"

"Raphael has a flesh wound on his shoulder from a stray bullet. Spencer has a broken arm. But otherwise, we got off really easy."

"Good," she muttered. Don looked pretty down and she wouldn´t put it past him to blame himself for something. She needed to distract him. "So!" she clapped her hands, making Don jump slightly. "Where am I?"

Mira swung her legs out of the bed and with the help of Don, got the IV out, "Was this really necessary?" she frowned at the needle.

"You should have seen yourself. You were so pale from fright, I thought you were suffering from blood loss until I wasn´t able to find any wound," he teased her lightly. She blushed, thinking next time she really should do better and stay conscious during the fight.

"Come on, I´ll show you around."


	12. Chapter 12

This was just getting way out of hand. Waaaaay out of hand. He wasn´t in any sort of control anymore and that certainly wasn´t a good sign when you where the leader. He´d said no, he was sure they´d heard him, but he´d been overruled.

Overruled!

He was fairly certain leadership didn´t work that way. A good leader listened to his team, but dammit, a good team listened to their leader! So when he entered the Lair, having dumped off Timothy at the emergency room and made sure he got the prober care for his stab wound, indirectly of course, he expected to come home to Raph, Don and Mikey waiting for him so they could re-group and decide what to do.

Instead, he walked in to find Johnny and Mikey engaged in a major videogame battle, both throwing everything from encouragement to insults and popcorn at the screen. Juliet sitting on the edge of the couch, looking as if she was considering if this was a safe enough distance or if she needed to back away more. James was surprisingly standing next to Raph, apparently learning how to properly hit a punching bag.

And apparently Spencer had been watching somewhere nearby, because he suddenly came towards him.

"Please, don´t worry," he began. "I trust all of these people not to say a word."

He obviously understood where Leo was coming from. But, even risking that he sounded like a spoiled brat, he had said no! He wanted to stomp the ground with his foot until he got his way!

Taking a calming breath, he tried relaxing his tense muscles, even if he could see on Spencer rigid posture that it wasn´t working too well. Fighting to bring forth lesson after lesson on manners, Leo tried vaguely to give Spencer a smile.

"It´s okay."

His smiled slipped immediately though, when he thought of who else had to be okay with this.

The eldest student, the _favorite_ student, had to fight very hard no to crumple to the ground in fright and his eyes widened. Splinter was going to be furious! He´d yell at him! He´d singlehandedly risked the safety of his family by letting these strangers enter their home! They´d have to fight their way out, they´d have to move again, they´d have to-.

A familiar tapping sounded and Leo realized he´d started pacing, his hands on his head and was watched by the worried eyes of Spencer.

Oh, God, he just wanted to hide everyone away! Yell at them to take cover, so maybe, just maybe, he could keep this from his father and stay out of trouble!

No. No, that was not how a leader acted, he scolded himself. He took responsibility for his actions and met the consequences head on.

_There are no excuses when you are the leader._

Standing tall, Leo carefully shook off any expression of panic off his face that he, to his utter horror, had been openly displaying only moments before. The tapping had grown more insistent and Leo mentally prepared himself to defend his actions and assure that these people could be trusted. He certainly hoped they could.

Way before Leo felt ready to handle it, Splinter came out from the kitchen and the pressure became too much. Humbly, he fell to his knees and the child in him were moments from raising his hands to shield his face and burst that it wasn´t his fault! He hadn´t brought the strangers home! It was Raph and Don and Mikey! They should take the blame!

Cringing and waiting, nothing happened. Opening one eye, he expected Splinter to stand in front of him, giving him the all-knowing look. But he saw no one, so he lowered his hands and opened the other eye so find where his sensei went.

"I brought chips!" the voice of his Master reached him from the living room, followed by several cheers. Leo sweatdropped.

"Mr. Splinter already met us all," Spencer suddenly broke through his thoughts. "He´s approved and welcomed us into your home. Are you going to be okay?"

Leo didn´t know what to say.

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT**

"Whaddya watching?" James called Raph´s attention, who absentmindedly turned to look at him, with a crooked smile, shaking a bit from laughter. He´d just witnessed the perfect son have a minor meltdown of the possible lecture from their father – it was hilarious! For someone who loved giving lectures so much, he sure didn´t like receiving them.

"Just Leo going crazy."

James found Leonardo and watched as said turtle were gaping open-mouthed at the group playing video-games.

"He looks like he´s in shock. And scared. Was he worried your dad would be mad?" he asked, vaguely wondering if the rat was a strict father. He had never been afraid of his father like that.

"Leo ain´t afraid," Raph scoffed, "he´s just worried he´ll get a mark on his perfect score. Besides, Sensei gets worried, not even. Okay, let ´s see the twist punch and a right hook."

James executed the moves a bit unsurely and the punching bag barely moved. Raph raised an invisible eyebrow.

"A little harder maybe? Might want to hurt your target?"

James made another try, hitting as hard as he could, eyes widening when his knuckles cracked and he yelped in alarm, clutching the offended hand closely to his chest. Strangling a scream, his eyes watering, he said miserably, "I didn´t think it would hit back."

Raph chuckled, "I thought you were supposed to be one of the smart guys. Ever heard of Newton´s laws of motion? You don´t have to be a genius to get that hitting something heavy hard enough is going to hurt."

James couldn´t help starring in disbelief at the turtle.

"You know of physics?"

"You try having a genius brother without something rubbing off. Think this happened when we were seven and I kicked a wall."

"Why´d you kick a wall?"

Raph looked thoughtful for a moment, making James briefly wonder if it had been too personal to ask.

"I´d just been told that Leo was gonna be the leader," the red-banded turtle finally admitted. "Didn´t take it too well. Donnie fixed me up, told me why it hurt," Raph shrugged, "Now that I think about it, it might have just been to get my mind of it. It stuck anyway."

"Sounds like he´s a good brother."

Raph looked surprised and then finally grunted, "Just hit the damn bag."

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT**

Daniel wanted to laugh.

So he did.

"Ahahaha, that´ll show them! Can I see the bodies? Wait, doesn´t matter. We´ll sell them to highest bidder! Were they scared? Did you bring the footage? A guy needs his beauty sleep, that´s why I asked you to record it! Nevermind. As long as it´s taken care off. What do you mean? Say that again? They got away? What?! How could you let that happen! Idiots! Must I do everything myself?"

Daniel hung up the phone, scowling. Having finally gotten a break in the form of an anonymous tip about their whereabouts, he´d finally found them. Of course, the guy didn´t stay anonymous for long and he´d thought it hilarious that they had one of their own turned against them. At first, he´d wanted to gloat or appear as a hologram or something equally cool, but he´d quickly realized that in the grand scheme of things, he had to get rid of them quickly for his plan to run smoothly.

So he sent a small army to take them out. He knew they were highly trained, but he believed with a few surprises they´d be sitting ducks.

Then _someone_ had screwed up.

Oh, which reminded him,

"Sam!"

"Yessir?" the assistant peeked in the door.

"Have someone take care of the guy I just talked to on the phone. Who was that anyway?"

"Jensen, sir. One of your generals, sir."

"Oh. Well, I don´t tolerate failure. Have him taken care off. Also, get a new general. Maybe that Andrew-guy? Recruit him! He seems to have the right motive. If this one fails," he winked at Sam, "then it´s on your head. Okay, pumpkin?"

"Yessir."

Now, where was he? Oh yes, so the turtles had escaped. Nothing to it. He had everything he needed already. He´d taken care of the funds, the manpower, the technology – he was as ready as he was ever going to get. But he couldn´t handle the temptation much longer.

In a way, he´d had luck. Not very long ago, one of his scientists had eagerly presented him with a turtle shaped phone. Apparently, it was quite a device, he´d had to have the poor expert silenced the way he kept blabbering on about how interesting it was.

So maybe just a call to rub it in. Any if he could manage to get the damn freaks to stay away tomorrow, things would go a lot more smoothly.

Plucking the right cords to the small shell, he watched as a program popped up on the screen. He wasn´t going to use the same phone as these mutants after all. Who knew where they´d been? But who to call? He´d met the turtle captain and the turtle inventor. He´d had a brief encounter with the hotheaded one. Maybe it was time to say hello to the last turtle.

"Mother Milk incorporated, would you like to redraw or donate?"

"… I´m sorry?" He was baffled.

"Who are you? _RAPH! WHO`S GOT YOUR PHONE?!"_

Daniel tore the phone away from his ear, in brief shock. Then his wits returned.

"This is Daniel Malvir, Michelangelo." He had to assume it was the right turtle he was speaking with. The odd greeting had somewhat confused him, but honestly it had only made him that much more sure of victory. These silly creatures were no match for him.

"Malvir," the voice scoffed and Daniel took note of how young this one sounded. The voice turned serious and quietly continued, somehow making him guess that was uncharacteristic of this character. "We´re coming for you, ya know."

For the first time in his life, Daniel had second thoughts about his plan of taunting these creatures. But his pride quickly won out and he found himself getting angry.

"You´ll try. But I´m warning you, Michelangelo, get in my way and I will make you regret it. I assume you´d like to keep at least one brother alive."

Suddenly, it was no more than a hiss that he barely heard, "Touch any of my brothers and I´ll do whatever it takes to take you down."

Feeling his eyebrows reach heaven he took in the latest threat. This was not what Michelangelo was supposed to react.

"I expect this hostility comes from meeting Katie, does it?"

"Dude, I bet you stare at juice boxes all day because they say, _concentrate_!"

What? Was he the only one who wasn´t following anymore? Where´d the doom and gloom go?

"And I heard you took an IQ test. I just got the results – they came back negative! _Mikey! Give me that!"_

Huh. Interesting. The brightest turtle has a dark side that he doesn´t want the others to know about.

"What do you want, Malvir?"

Ahh, Leonardo.

"I´ve given you two warnings already, turtle. Trying to get into my buildings? Really?" he snorted, getting his confidence back.

"What do you want?"

"I´m trying to avoid giving you the third and final notice," his brows furrowed and he was getting desperate to scare them away. Threatening their family hadn´t worked. Killing off an innocent girl had only made them more determined to get him. Why weren´t the methods he´d used on the police work on them?

"We value life and killing that girl was the second of your mistakes."

"And the first?" he couldn´t help ask.

"Threatening my family."

"Interesting. Well, be assured I won´t be making anymore."

"Too late," a voice a bit more distant popped up. Daniel realized he´d been on speaker ever since Leo took over. He chose to ignore that comment. "Come for me again and I _will_ end you all."

"We´ve been through a lot, Malvir," Leonardo suddenly began. "We´re not only Ninjas, we´re Warriors. Out of all the forces opposing you, we are the most dangerous."

"And why is that?" he asked curiously, wondering how and when Leonardo took charge of the conversation.

"We´ve fought wars before. We have our ways. This third mistake was your final."

Stomach clenching, Daniel frantically thought as to what mistake he was referring. He had everything planned out, everything sorted. He was marching on New York tomorrow and he was going to take over the city!

"I make no mistakes," he nearly growled. Leonardo´s voice was calm and nearly lecturing.

"You made a fatal one. You underestimated us."

The call ended and Daniel sat back in his chair, angrier than ever before.

He was going to kill them all.

_**A/N**_

_**I´d really like more feedback for this story. You guys must have some opinions and I´d really like to hear them. I´m trying to get better at writing and capturing you people in my stories – so please, what´s good? What could be better? Do you agree with my Leo in this? I imagine Leo would have a hard time getting yelled at and sometimes the child in him will come forward and take over. It´s gotta be hard, having to take the blame most of the time. And Dark Mikey? Well, I doubt Mikey would joke about a threat against his brothers, but I also think he´d want to keep everything light and happy in front of them, to make their lives easier. What do you think?**_

_**I hope you´re enjoying the story so far:) Please review!**_


	13. Chapter 13

Leo looked in dismay at the shellcell, feeling anger curse through him. He was sick and tired of his family being threatened. He was sick and tired of having to run and hide and when they finally fought back, he was sick and tired of being taunted and ridiculed. Leo took a deep, cleansing breath before painfully realizing that Mikey was in his face.

Almost literally.

"Duuude, you were epic!" he burst and Leo jerked back to avoid whatever that would accompany Mikey´s words out of his mouth.

"That´s nice, Mikey," he absentmindedly patted his youngest brother´s shoulder, sighing heavily. He realized, and not for the first time, that it was up to him to come up with their next step. They basically only need to know where Malvir was. That was all he needed.

He must have been in the building they´d investigated. Killing a girl was a desperate measure for any man and it had to mean they were getting too close. Obviously, Malvir would have moved by now and going back to the place would prove futile since obviously this man would be smart enough to destroy anything of importance he couldn´t bring with him.

But he had to be reaching his grand finale. He´d succeeded in the crime, he´d gotten the money and from what they had gathered, he had structured one shell of a ninja army – now with improved artillery. Leo realized that Malvir´s next step could potentially be his final.

Noting that he needed to shake the habit of walking off or pacing without realizing it, he hurried back into the living room where they´d all been gathered. Sometime during the call, Don and Mira had joined them and he took a good look at the remaining team members.

There sat Spencer, who had gathered them all and in a way was the founder of this odd group. Even though he could have taken charge and become the leader, he had graciously stepped back and allowed Leo to take over without too much of a fuss. He had seemed a bit put off that they hadn´t waited for him at first contact with Malvir but he´d accepted that they actually were a team within a team and Leo had made sure to relay everything that had been said.

Mira and James seemed to have fit in the easiest, both young and eager and thankfully not the slightest bit judgmental of their appearance. He already knew that Don had a potential friend for life and for some odd reason, he had noticed James started hovering around Raph. More oddly, Raph allowed it and had even taken him aside to teach the kid a few moves. That was unusual and Leo briefly wondered if meeting these new people actually could have a positive outcome even after. He didn´t dare hope so, though. Both young technicians had proved their worth, Mira working alongside Don and James keeping an eye on the world through the media.

And then there was Juliet and Johnny who Michelangelo had already announced his best friends. Watching the turtle make the two humans laugh and joke, simply reminded him of his brother´s true talent. He could barely recognize the stuck up woman he´d met less than a week ago, compared to the carefree girl he was watching now. She´d proven to be a capable soldier and a quick draw and he found that he actually trusted her to fight alongside with his brothers.

Cooper hadn´t been there during the attack and Leo was relieved that he had actually managed to keep at least one person from seeing the lair, even if it was by default. And Timothy… he didn´t really know where he had the guy. Unlike Raph, he understood Timothy´s reaction, even if he didn´t like it. He felt almost grateful to the man who got his brothers out. The soldier hadn´t looked too happy though. When Leo had dropped him off at the hospital, he´d carried a haunted look that Leo knew a little too well. Thinking back on his thoughts through his dark period (as his brothers referred to it as), he shuddered and pushed them far back in his mind. Timothy wasn´t going to be ready to join them again physically, perhaps not even mentally.

Spencer, Johnny, Mira, James, Juliet and Cooper. That was all that was left of their group. These were the people they were going to take their last stand with.

If they didn´t stop Malvir now, he would be too big to knock down and an awfully big amount of people would be hurt. They needed to stop him before things got to street level, if it wasn´t already too late.

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT **

"Yo, Donnie."

Puzzled, Donnie looked up from his work to glance at his immediate older brother. Raph sat down on the table in front of the genius, who was sitting on the couch with his computer casting an eerie light at him. Mira was leaning on the back of the couch and couldn´t quite figure out if it was one of those moments where she should walk away and give them some privacy. She was a bit curious, though, not having seen Donnie interact much with his kin. She´d been told they were brothers, but other than the family resemblance, she had no idea how close they were. Raphael seemed to be completely ignoring her, so she chose to stay until she got an obvious hint.

"You okay?" was the first question out of Donnie´s mouth and Mira knew he was referring to seeing that poor girl get killed. Even her stomach hadn´t settled yet and she hadn´t even physically been there. The big turtle sighed heavily and grunted. She didn´t know how to interpret that.

But apparently Donnie did.

"Yeah. I know."

The next thing that happened, Mira had only read about in the few fictional books she´d been forced to read. She´d never seen it happen in real life.

So when the two turtles locked eyes, time seemed to stop and she had never felt more like an intruder. Yet, she couldn´t move and even though she wasn´t the victim of those strong amber eyes she had just realized Raphael had, she felt mesmerized. She honestly regretted not being able to see Donnie´s eyes respond, having already noticed they were a dark brown, but she was terrified of ruining the moment between the two.

Obviously something important was passing between them and the end result was Don leaning back on the couch satisfied and Raphael slumping a bit in his seat. He seemed more relaxed for some reason and Mira felt amazed that a simply look from a brother could take that much tension out of the red-clad turtle.

And just like that, everything seemed to return to normal and realizing that the world had continued to spin around them during it, she suddenly felt lucky that she got to be a part of their bubble eye talk.

"Ya said it´s too late for the asshole," Raph casusally commented. "Does that mean ya got him?"

"Oh yes," her new friend almost cackled and she couldn´t help but smile herself. She´d only recently gotten the explanation and she´d followed the magic happening on the screen. Finally they'd made some process. Process that Daniel Malvir didn´t know about. They had finally lucked out!

Apparently sensing the conversation as important, she noticed Mikey, Johnny and Juliet joined them. A few seconds later, James dumped down on the couch and realizing she´d loose valuable screen-time if she didn´t hurry, she quickly crawled over the couch and took the seat next to Donnie. She needn´t have bothered, though, since Donnie wasn´t actually planning on doing any explanation.

Seeing the rest of their group automatically gather and wait for Donnie to speak, she watched with baited breath as he intertwined his fingers and stretched them out in front of him, as she had done many times after countless hours of writing on the keyboard.

An anticipating silence settled over the group and when Donnie spoke, her stomach clenched in anticipation for the long awaited words.

"We know where he is."

Silence.

Then,

"YES!" Mikey screamed and jumped in the air, grabbing a stunned Juliet around the middle and spinning her nauseously fast around. Raph pumped the air and was giving high fives and fist pumps all around and Spencer was smiling relieved. Even she couldn´t contain her relief and gave Donnie a sideways hug, congratulating him happily. Ignoring his blushing and modest muttering, "it was nothing, really" she jumped from the couch, suddenly wanting a high five as well. The relief was evident on everyone´s faces and seeing Donnie get the praise he deserved, first from Leo in the form of a gentle pet on his shoulder, to the "You´re the turtle, Donnie!" from Mikey and the handshake from Spencer, honesty warmed her heart.

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT **

Okay, James decided, the world had gone bonkers.

First, he meets talking turtles.

Then he finds that one of the talking turtles has a higher IQ than him. (He had to ask).

Then they label their enemy. A man with unlimited funds, a ninja army and a cocky attitude.

Great.

Then they go investigate this guy´s HQ, only to find no villain, but a girl strapped to a bomb.

Then the guy calls, threatens, only to be _out-threatened _by another turtle.

Boo yah!

And then the guy makes the mistake of bringing a turtle phone right into the heart of things and thanks to paranoid turtles who´s got to know where everyone is at all times, they simply tracked him!

Checkmate!

Scrolling down on the screen, he was surprised by how silent it got down in a sewer. Besides the occasional faint sounds of a train it was utterly quiet. Having deciding they would attack the following night, it had been advised everyone got some rest. Juliet and Mira had quickly bullied Donnie into giving up his room. Honestly, the guy was nice but such a push-over when it came to girls.

Leo had been quick to offer his room to Spencer who had politely decline and instead grabbed a blanket and headed for the recliner. Instead, Johnny and himself had decided to bunk there. It was quickly decided that Raph and Donnie would share Raph´s room and Leo and Mikey would share Mikey´s. Apparently, it had been thoroughly discussed (one of the key points had been that Leo was the only one with enough patience to handle the horrors of Mikey´s room). Sure enough, not minutes after they said they´d retire, Leo went grumbling into the kitchen and returned with a black trash bag.

Having a quick peek into Leo´s room where he´d be sleeping, he´d determined that Leo was quite the neat freak and imagining that Mikey wasn´t the most clean and orderly of turtles, he understood the action. He just wanted to check a few of the major headlines before heading to bed. Fighting to keep his eyes open, he skimmed the pages as fast as he dared.

… _A City Place for Country Doctors.._

… _In the Bronx, Throwing Millions Down 18 holes.._

… _Rich Benefactor, Daniel Malvir, Declares War on the World.._

… _A Vivid Glimpse of a Lost America.._

Wait.. Scrolling back up James frantically clicked on the article. A small video from a small newstation, aired less than an hour ago, was attached. Wearily, he clicked it and gulped heavily as it loaded and Daniel Malvir himself appeared in a dashing business outfit and a charming smile.

"_Mr. Malvir, you´ve decided to give us an exclusive interview. What caused the change of heart?" the reporter began. "We´ve never had much luck with you," she flirted._

"_Well, Susan, it´s the beginning of an era and I want no doubt of who´s behind it," Daniel smoothly rattled off._

"_Can you elaborate on that?" she asked, smiling happily. _

"_Of course! May I?" he asked. She nodded mutely. Turning his chair so he was facing the screen directly, Daniel signaled the camera closer with his hand, so only his upper body and head was showing. "Dear New York. Fellow Americans. World," he began. "We need a change and I am here to make everything better. Normally, one would pursue this goal through politics and," he winked, "God knows I have the means. But I find democracy to work awfully slow, don´t you? I want to make a change here and now. Therefore, starting with New York I will, one city, one country, one nation at a time, take over the world. And you cannot possibly stop me."_

_The reporter had stopped smiling and was looking at him doubtfully._

"_I´m sorry, Mr. Malvir, I´m not sure what you´re trying to say," she plastered on a now fake smile in honor of the camera. Daniel turned back to her and his smiled disappeared. _

"_Ah yes, I suppose I´ll have to be blatantly obvious for you Americans with only half a brain," he scoffed. Giving the journalist an exaggerated smile, he spoke slowly as if to a child, "If I am not made President of the United States of America within," he glanced at his watch, "ten hours, I will march on your dear city and kill anyone who stands in my way. After New York, I will take on the rest of America and then the rest of the world until you surrender."_

"_Why would you-"_

"_Ah-ah," he cut her off, "I´m not interest in politics or opinions. New York screwed me once and now it´s my turn. And why not take the rest of the world while I´m at it?" Another wink at the small woman. "Now!" He clapped his hands and turned back to the camera, "You might wonder, why President of the United States if I want the world? Well, you´ve got to start somewhere and I am a realistic, but optimistic man. I doubt you could all agree on something within my time limit. So! First, President. Then… Emperor of the World, perhaps? I´ll think of a good title later. Now, better get started! You now have nine hours and fifty-five minutes. I have an army and I know how to use it." _

Another freaking wink and the video stopped, frozen on a smirking Malvir.

James took a slow second to gather his thoughts. The virus Don had sent out days ago wouldn´t exactly work if the man himself stood up and declared the whole thing! This was exactly what they wanted to avoid. When he´d asked, why not expose Malvir as they bad guy he was, Leonardo had simply answered quietly, _We strike hard and fade away into the night. Let the innocent sleep peacefully._

This was sure to create a panic though. He cleared his throat.

"Guys! WAKE! UP!"


	14. Chapter 14

Michelangelo had wanted to let out a whistle of appreciation. He´d wanted to raise his invisible eyebrows in astonishment. Then he´d wanted to shrug and call it a day. Then he´d wanted to fall to his knees, crying about how hopeless it all was.

But of course he did none of the above.

"Tsk, that´s nothing!" he said instead, "We can easily take down twenty or so thousand footsoldiers. No biggie!"

Watching the large gate on Malvir´s building open had been impressive, he would admit that. Watching foot soldier upon footsoldier march out as if it was an orc-army taken straight out of a Lord of the Rings movie had been less encouraging. As per usual they were clad in black, but their gear had taken quite an upgrade. Guns had been slung over their shoulders, they even had one they were carrying in their arms. They were wearing some sort of full-body suit and their belts were fully equipped with everything from thin wire and extra bullets to shuriken and a water bottle. On their left thigh they all had a wakizashi, a short sword and on their right a small, black, barely noticeable pouch. Their heads were covered in cloth, not unlike a black spiderman outfit, Mikey noted. Instead of the mat black color that was usually used to blend in with the shadows, this black was shiny and made them look quite impressive and modern, for a lack of a better word.

When the next thing that rolled out was a few rather large black, shiny tanks, Mikey didn´t bat an eye, yet he absently wondered of their resemblance to the Bat-mobile. But when it was followed by small three-person flying platforms, not unlike the ones the tricerations had used in their invasion, expect much more slick looking, Mikey swallowed heavily. It seemed Malvir had been to the same 101 how-to-invade-Earth class as the Triceratons had taken.

Hiding his doubt, he smirked and said, "Geez, come up with something new, why don´t ya? Tanks? Really? Booooring," he declared, "Those are way too slow and easy to handle, right guys? We´ve got this!"

He had wanted to say something more but he trailed off as armored elephants came tearing out the building. They were way bigger than they were supposed to be, a tad larger than the average double decker bus and roared viciously, not at all like Mikey had imagined an elephant would.

"He´s got to be kidding! A miniature Oliphant?!" Don had burst, leaning a beak flat against the window in curiosity. And suddenly Mikey realized,

"Is he copying movies?!" he shrieked in surprised. Ultimately, his question was answered when a black APU from the movie Matrix stepped out, guns blazing to the sky, looking like a cyborg with a human placed in the stomach. Apparently their young bad-guy was as impressionable as the next young fellow and was quite taken with action movies. He had style, Mikey would give him that.

"I imagine with unlimited funds it wouldn´t be a far stretch to genetically modify elephant DNA. Even a well thought out breeding program could do it. It would take time though. He must have been planning this for a while," Donnie noted.

"Wow, this guy is a freak," Mira muttered from next to him. "An Armored Personnel Unit? Who does this sort of thing?"

"A maniac that has to be stopped," Spencer answered absentmindedly. _Or a young, very impressionable misunderstood man, _he thought, watching as a truck sized elephant tore through a car. "We have to do something."

Mikey watched as Leo slumped, seemingly in hopelessness and Raph clenched his fists in astonishment. And he totally got that. Honestly, they were so few and they were so many! There was no way they could win this, yet he knew they were going down trying.

And personally he did kinda want some revenge. If they couldn´t save the world, he sure as shell could at least make Malvir pay.

"Don´t worry, friends," Spencer suddenly said. "I think it´s time to call in _our _army.

Mikey looked up in excitement at that, not knowing what he should expect. He had heard Spencer talk about the people he had on stand-by, but an army was something entirely different. And awesome.

Reaching for his phone, Spencer pressed a button and placed the phone by his ear. He waited just a second, then,

"I assume you´re watching this. Yeah. It´s time. Let´s not make this easy on him. Send in everyone."

Then he hung up the call and Mikey was left to watch him in astonishment.

"Who was-?" Leonardo began but was cut off by a devastating sound as a small jet flew right past the abandoned apartment they were in and shook the windows. Not wasting a second, both Donnie, Mikey and Johnny was pressed against the window, following the jet with their eyes.

"A F-14 tomcat," Johnny breathed, which was met my simultaneously whispered,

"Cool," from Donnie and Mikey both.

Not a second later, the battle began.

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT **

The air had quickly become heavy with sweat, blood and tears. There was an overall panic and the darkness was slowly settling over the city. Raph had never seen anything like this. Ever. And he´d never expected to be a part of it. He rejoiced in the thrill of being in a battle, feeling the adrenalin overcome him and letting his mind work faster than normal. He saw the punches and kicks before they neared him and he blocked, evaded and responded as he did best. The guns had proven to be a slight difficulty, but it seemed the old jump-around-faster-than-they can-follow worked fine and as soon he had a close-up it was over. Taking down the large humanized machined hadn´t even been hard when he got up behind it. And he didn´t regret knocking the soldiers out, as he admitted he sometimes did. The fight was over so much faster. When they did regular burglars and thieves, he often held back and played around.

He couldn´t afford that now and neither would he want to since they literally just kept coming. He´d had this feeling fighting the Foot before, since there were always many. But this was insane. There weren´t just many – for the first time in his life, Raph realized there were _too _many.

Originally their plan had been to get in the building and find Malvir. Just as they had arrived in the small apartment that Spencer had secured to scope out the place, the freaking door had opened, revealing Malvir´s army. So after Spencer had called for back-up and explained that he´d spun a pretty decent lie for them to work together, they´d joined the fight.

At first, he´d been vigilant for all. Raph had no idea if their own army would turn against them when they saw they were fighting alongside mutants, so he was ready for everyone, sais drawn, the battle glare in place and a vigilante eye on his brothers.

Again, the plan had been to let the army versus army distract from their infiltration. They were still going after Malvir. But one small thing had changed that, and it had been simple.

The people on the streets had screamed and started running. A child had been left behind.

And a broken window later and Mikey had been in a free fall drop to the streets. Making an impressive evasion of the ground by grabbing a traffic light and skidding across a truck, he´d reached the ground and grabbed the kid just as a footsoldier aimed. Seeing that, orders were forgotten and Donnie, Leo and Raph were down and fighting before anyone could blink.

Now, because of the mass confusion, they´d been split up pretty fast. Not knowing where his brothers were was troubling but what he was doing right now he deemed even more troubling.

"Just stay, Lady!"

"Ahhhh!"

Screaming, the terrified woman once again ran towards trouble. It was hard not to, since they we´re surrounded. Standing on street level, there was fighting everywhere. Raph had come to recognize a single guideline – avoid green, hurt black. The army on their side was luckily easily recognizable in the green army suits. It would have been easy, if only black and green were the only variable. But there were a hundred other colors that couldn´t protect themselves. And they were making it annoyingly hard to help them.

Pulling the woman forcibly back, he grabbed the gun with the space between his sais and pulled it out of the soldiers hand, kicking the soldier in the stomach and making him double over in pain. Seeing the woman now turn to run the other way, Raph recited every curse word he knew. And there were many.

"Would ya look where ya goin´?!" he yelled at her, chasing after her once again and barely managing to push her away from a down swinging sword. Catching said sword with his sais, he twisted around, pulling the soldier off his feet and threw him over his shoulder.

Noticing in the corner of his eyes that the woman had scurried backwards without caring what was behind her, Raph hurriedly threw a sai backwards, briefly praising himself for his fine aim when the black clad man behind her sunk to the ground. He quickly recovered the sai and hurried to her side. She had to understand that he could get her to safety much faster if she would just stay with him. It seemed normal words didn´t register with her, though, so he tried a much simpler tactic.

"Stay!" he commanded, holding his palm up in front of her, as he´d seen dog-trainers on television do. She froze instinctively for a second but the shock didn´t last for long, having caught a vague opening between the fighting and gone for it. Rolling his eyes and groaning loudly, wondering why he had to be the one to save this crazy woman, Raphael chased after her in an attempt to preserve her life, hoping his brothers were fairing slightly better.

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT**

_Okay, Mike, ya handsome turtle. What would Batman do?_

Mikey glanced around frantically, spotting several large lights hanging from the ceiling. Praying they would hold his weight, he jumped and swung on top of one. Using a moment to steady it, knowing it would reveal his location if it was swinging, he focused on balancing. It was one of the skills he excelled at, having from a young age been able to master every balance related exercise Master Splinter threw at them, long before his brothers.

Almost the second the light had steadied, soldiers had finally figured out where he had gone and came running down the subway stairs. The tunnel had already been vacated, since it had been a good half hour since the battle started. Having been overwhelmed briefly on top, Mikey had followed his instincts and thrown a smoke bomb, before making a break for cover in the underground subway.

Waiting for his moment to pounce, he couldn´t help but wonder what it would be like to ride on the train like people did every day. Sure, he´d tried riding on top of one and he´d tagged them often enough, but he always wondered what it would be like to sit inside one, getting new friends, a common meeting point for people before they all continued their separate ways. It was probably great.

When two ninjas stopped right beneath him, he smiled mischievously and reached for the nearest. Barely leaving a breath of air behind, the ninja was suddenly pulled up and out of sight from the others that were now traveling a bit down the tunnel.

When the unconscious form of his fellow ninja was dumped in front of him, ninja number two obviously looked down. That was his mistake, as Mikey took care of him much the same way.. It was amazing how rarely people looked up.

Seeing that the rest of the ninjas had now disappeared down the tunnel, thinking he´d gone that way, Mikey shook his head in despair.

Hadn´t these ninjas seen enough movies to know not to do that? They could get hit by a train!

Jumping down from the lamps, Mikey hummed cheerily to himself, briefly considering if he should go find one of those mutated elephants, when he paused suddenly, his eyes having caught the train schedule. Remembering back to a day when they were younger and Leo had brought him to a quiet station and taught him how to read it, he studied the many lines and colors. He was grateful that Leo had taken the time to show him how humans got around, even if he had found it boring at the time.

"_Come on, Leo! I wanna go topside!"_

"_Wait, Mikey, this is important. Look at this map. It shows you which train goes where," Leo explained patiently, pulling Mikey to stand next to him. Pointing at the map, he explained how to see which train you had to get on and how the sign next to it showed when it was due to arrive._

"_But I´ll never get to go on the subway! Who cares? I´ll never need to know!"_

"_You might. A good ninja is always prepared. Always take the time to learn a skill, Michelangelo, you never know when you might need it."_

Chuckling to himself, he remembered how Leo had wanted to teach him how to buy a ticket as well. He´d even used fifteen minutes talking about the yellow safety line that was never to be crossed before the train came to a full stop. The next week´s topic had been about looking both ways before crossing the street.

It had been a month after that he had realized that Leo had gotten hold of a parenting book, explaining what was useful for a child to know, should it ever get lost and need to find its way home.

They had been seven years old. This was back when they didn´t see the difference between them and humans. This was when they fully believed they could be the first turtle firefighters or the first turtles in space.

Well, they probably _were _the first turtles in space.

Getting ripped out of his thoughts by the sounds of footsteps and shouts coming down the stairs, followed by a vicious roar, Mikey gulped. Maybe he didn´t want to see the elephant up close after all.

Taking a quick glance at the schedule, he formed a fleeting plan in his head, hoping there was no way that an elephant could fit through and get down the stairs. A huge crash and crumpling tiles thrown his way, made him think the Foot _made_ room for it.

And look, a trunk!

Getting ready to run, Mikey braced himself. This was just the old turtle luck running true to form.

Nothing he couldn´t handle.

Right?

_**A/N Sorry it took me so long! I have too many ideas and I simply cannot decide what to go with. Makes me pretty confused, so I'm hoping it still makes somewhat sense:) Anyway, have you guys seen Nick's new series? What do we think of it? :D Remember to review!**_


	15. Chapter 15

"Are you okay, Sir?"

Leo looked up in surprise, having been too focused on any hostile intent that he had barely noticed the soldier come close enough to speak. Berating himself for the mistake, he vaguely reminded himself that they were supposed to be on the same side and that the soldier hadn´t shot at him. Yet.

The young soldier wore his uniform surprisingly well for such a lanky person. Shoulders slumped, in an attempt to make himself smaller and thereby less of a target, he crouched next to Leo behind the dumpsters. Leo tensed but reminded himself, as he had been forced to several times already, that he had to trust these humans.

Without trust they would never win this war. Without trust, they'd never succeed in getting Malvir. He hated to admit it, but they needed the help.

If there was one thing Leo hated, _it was needing help._

Clutching his hurt shoulder, he gave the soldier a brief nod. Learning that every soldier had been instructed to view him as a superior had been quite a surprise, but he had quickly taken to it, barking out orders in an attempt to rescue as many civilians as possible.

What Spencer had told them, for them to accept him so easily, he had no idea.

The fact of the matter was that it had worked and Leonardo had never felt so powerful. He was at the top of his game and he was in his element. Guidance, strategy, warfare - this was where he excelled and now he suddenly had the means to carry out every defensive and offensive plans he´d ever imagined and designed, playing with his green army men when he was younger(and admittedly a bit when he was older too).

"You're hurt, Sir," the soldier stated. Leo glanced down at the wound. It was merely a flesh wound and he had often enough had worse, but admittedly, it _was_ the cause of his retreat.

"It's not as bad as it looks," he uttered, surprised by how odd his voice sounded. He had barely spoken above a whisper and was surprisingly hoarse.

"I'm sure, Sir," the soldier humored him, "But that is not a mere flesh wound, I'm afraid. I saw you take that bullet, Sir, and even if it went straight through, I fear your arm is not working well? May I?"

He gestured as if to take Leo's arm and examine it but Leo immediately shook his head, distrust clear in his eyes. The soldier kept his distance.

So maybe the kid was right. He'd been shot. Luckily, it had gone all the way through his left bicep. Unluckily, it was immensely painful to move said arm.

"Sir, you must have that tended to and I have a first aid kit right here. Let me help you."

No. He was going to find Donnie later. Taking a shuddering breath, he focused on calming himself and pushing the pain away enough for him to continue. The battle was still very much ongoing. The explosions, guns and the screaming were tearing through his consciousness and he had a hard time focusing.

That might also be because of the blood loss.

"At least rest for a moment, Sir. I will cover you."

Glancing up into the soldier´s eyes, Leo had a choice to make. He took a good, long look, unconsciously thinking back to when they'd first met April and how Splinter had had the same choice to make.

"_Is this another lesson, Master Splinter? How to sense the truth?"_

"_No. This is called trusting your gut."_

One last check to make sure they were still unseen, Leo nodded once and slid down to the ground, ignoring the flare of fire in his arm as he came to a stop. He rested his head against the wall and tried to get himself together, just a little.

"Name and rank?" Leo suddenly asked, needing to get his mind off of their situation. He finally took the bandage the soldier was handing to him cautiously.

"Clive, Sir. The Green Berets."

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTMNTTMNTTMNT**

Was it possible for a turtle to look pale? Because this one certainly did. Having spotted the green creature jump inside an alley and using a dirty wall for support, Clive knew a hurt soldier when he saw one. The turtle was wheezing, its muscles were trembling with strain and it was blinking too often for what was normal.

He'd seen the creature in action only an hour before and it had been admirable. It fought with such grace and rhythm that he was honestly surprised, as if woken by a dream, when it finally took a hit.

Earlier he´d seen an officer offer the creature a gun.

He´d been told the response had been a scoff and a muttering about uncivilized weapons. Then the turtle had drawn a second sword and pointed out what he wanted with such authority that no one had questioned the orders. He´d compared it to when his older brother had used his no-bullshit voice.

He´d barely hesitated when going to help it. He was a fellow soldier and the hidden fear and reluctance to receive help was all too familiar.

And now he was talking to it.

"The Green Berets?" the creature questioned. "You consider this a terrorist attack?"

How the turtle knew what his team specialized in was beyond him, but if war had taught him anything, it was to simply _go with it._

"I'd call this an act of terror, would you not, Sir?"

The turtle nods and Clive is surprised when he receives half a smile.

"You don't have to call me sir. My name is Leonardo."

Clive smiles regretfully.

"I'm sorry, Sir. We're not equals. That's not something I can do."

Leonardo shifts in pain but together they manage to fix him up as best as they can. He is no longer bleeding, but it is obvious to Clive that the wound is still bringing him pain and the loss of blood had taken its toll.

He wearily notices that the center of battle has moved slightly away from them and he dares breathe a little easier. He reaches for the water bottle in his belt and hands it to his new ally. It is wearily accepted and drowned. When the last sip is gone, Leonardo curiously looks up at him. He looks more at ease than Clive has ever seen him.

"You don't find us to be equals? I may be a ninja and you a soldier, but aren't we both warriors?" he suggests.

"Perhaps, Sir, but probably not the same type of warrior."

Leonardo is scanning his surroundings as they speak and seems to have come to the same conclusion as Clive.

They've been granted a moment to breathe.

"How so?"

Clive settles down next to the turtle, keeping a good foot between them. He's no longer feeling nervous or frightened of the being, but oddly sympathetic and at ease.

"Well, as you said it. You're a ninja. Hiding in the dark and all that sneaking around."

He receives a raised eyebrow and something that resembles a smirk, had it not been strangled and hidden immediately.

"And you?"

He shrugs. "Soldier. It's pretty straight forward."

The turtle seemed to consider his words and Clive marveled at the apparent intelligence. He'd never once imagined he'd be hiding in an alley with an injured mutant, discussing whether or not they were equals.

"Is this your first battle, Clive?" Leonardo asked.

"No, Sir. I've been to Afghanistan." It wasn´t necessary to say anything else. It had been the worst years of his life. Until he got back home.

"Then you know of honor in battle?"

Clive knew of one type of honor. He knew of the kind soldiers pay in high regard. In that savage place, you give your word of honor to dance with death instead of running away from it. In war, it's understood that you give your word of honor to do your duty to stand and fight instead of running away and deserting your friends.

"It's when you keep your word, despite desperately desiring to flee the screaming hell all around, you earn honor." Oh, he was very familiar with the suicidal waltz known as: _doing your duty_.

"Why are you here then? You must have earned your leave by now," the turtle quietly noted, its eyes closing.

"I´ve found civilians don't understand this so well," he began, suddenly feeling the need to explain himself. It seemed to drain Leonardo of much energy to speak anyway and approaching the topic, he felt cold, familiar bitterness swallow him whole once more and he wanted to get it off his chest as soon as possible. "When I got home… All everyone saw was my medals and my scars. They were so proud," he muttered bitterly. "But I could never adjust to the everyday life. It was so boring. My old life of backyards, barbecues and ballgames seemed deadly dull."

His heart was beating faster, his breath shorter and he found it was hard to continue. He had a hard time procressing these emotions and the reason was simple.

To gain honor, to stay and fight – he had to shut down everything else. His fear, his compassion, his guilt, until there was nothing but anger and hatred left. Then, and only then, could he get the job done.

It hadn't been easy returning home and be expected to turn everything back on. He was mostly just angry. And soon he was alone.

"I understand," Leonardo interrupted his brooding. "The thrill of the fight, the dance with death. Not a long shot from becoming an adrenalin junkie?" he questioned knowingly.

Clive had no doubt that Leonardo was speaking from experience, because only another combat veteran could possibly understand that keeping your word, your honor, whilst standing face to face with death gives meaning and purpose to life.

Only they understood the terrifying – but _thrilling_- dance with death and only they understood that the way you are, due to combat damaged emotions, is not un-usual, but the usual and that you are OK.

"I tried finding something else. Parachuting, bungee jumping, car racing – you name it. But I was ruined and the only place I functioned was the army. My only real challenge was the game I played with Death. With no wife or children to think of… here I am."

"It's addicting," Leonardo concluded. "I find myself wishing everyone would let us be and let us live a quiet life. But after all we've been through, I know I couldn't."

Clive knew they'd reached a deeper understanding. They actually were equals, both having been in battles, fought with honor and struggled with the normal life, even if their teachings were as different as night and day, they truly were the same.

They were now just sitting quietly next to each other. Leonardo had calmed his breathing and Clive could now feel Leonardo growing restless. He was about ready as well.

"Ready to rejoin the battle, Leonardo?" Clive stood, uselessly brushing off his bloody and dirty pants and offering a hand to the turtle, who surprisingly didn´t hesitate grabbing it with his good arm. Pulling Leonardo to his feet, Clive surprisingly received a hearty pad on the back.

"Will we ever get enough, Clive?" he sighed, listening to the sounds of war and eyeing a black tank passing by the alleyway.

"I doubt it," the soldier scoffed, recognizing without a doubt that they were the same, despite everything. He knew Leonardo also recognized a truth he'd come to realize about himself long ago: they'd go down swinging.

Because even if there were many kinds of warriors - battles and wars would always be the same. For true veteran warriors, it would always leave the same scars, the same emotional damage and the same hunger for more.

Honestly, it was simple.

"Out of many, we are one," Leonardo said, drawing a sword as Clive aimed his gun. With one last glance and smirk they charged the enemy once again.

_**A/N Whew, that was a difficult one. What do you think? Is it too much of a long shot to imagine Leo missing battles if the guys ever gets a break? That it gives his life some sort of purpose, more than the others? For some reason, Leo dying of old age didn't seem.. right. Now, here's my question: Would this have worked better with perhaps Raph? I chose Leo. Was I wrong? Please Review! :D**_


	16. Chapter 16

"Keep putting pressure on that!" Don ordered, rushing towards the next unfortunate victim. He was choking on the heavy air and couldn't see a damn thing for all the black smoke. His hearing had long since been replaced by a loud ringing and the only reason his hands, covered in blood, weren't shaking was because he knew it could mean the difference between life and death for the next person in his care.

Oh, he _loathed_ this.

He was in the very heat of battle, right in the center and his heart was pounding so hard in fright. They'd never been in a battle like this before.

Soft padding of footsteps, dark shadows, barely heard grunts of exhaustion, precise movements and the stillness of the night – that was what he was used to.

But this, this was screaming and chaos and panic and pain. This was loneliness among many, no time to think or calculate just act and act and act and-.

It was awful.

He wasn't doing much fighting anymore. He was running from human to human, trying to keep them alive. He'd brought a wounded soldier to a temporary cover he'd spotted being set up and after that, he'd spotted another injured soldier and not enough hands.

So his were green and lacked two fingers. He was good with them. He was going to help out.

But their location had been compromised, the rescue teams scattered and the injured left to fend for themselves. Don had stayed and tried, but he'd lost too many and he was honestly starting to sound like an angry Raph in his head.

He needed to get some tension out. Or maybe he just couldn't stay in this death zone any longer. He might be somewhat of a pacifist, he didn´t want to fight, he believed in solving things without violence. But then there were just those times when all common sense left him and the warrior in him rose.

Seeing all this death, destruction and chaos and knowing who was responsible – this was one of those times.

He sure as shell wasn't going to _talk_ to Malvir about this.

Grabbing the bo from his back, he twirled it absentmindedly, climbing onto a knocked over bus. He needed to find Malvir and hopefully it shouldn't be too difficult, since they had eyes everywhere.

Don scanned the area until he found who he was looking for. Jumping down from the bus, he went into a sprint to reach his target. He knew it was a dangerous move, but they'd been fighting for a few hours now at least, and he wasn't about to prolong the suffering. At one point in his wild run, he knew bullets were tracing his steps and it only encouraged him to run faster. Reaching his goal he jumped behind the same cover of ruble and reached for the radio on the soldiers back.

"Hey!" the soldier cried before seeing who had stolen his radio. Getting a good look at the turtle, he swallowed and nodded mutely. "What can I do for you, sir?"

Don was messing with the radio, while breathing heavily. When he had caught he breath, he handed the walkie back to the soldier.

"I need everyone to hear this. Can you make that happen?"

"Only the leaders of each group, sir." He messed with a few buttons. "There, now you've got everyone, including headquarters."

"And they can all respond?" Don asked, reaching for the communicator. The soldier nodded and Don placed the device close to his mouth. He had to take a moment to squash any confidence issues – talking to that many people was making him uncomfortable and he knew that only did he need them to listen, he needed them to work with him. Realizing that he had no idea if he had any status or any sorts of security clearance, he thought that explaining to them that he was a mutant on their side would take time they didn't have. He'd have to be creative.

"This is Agent Hamato, Special Unit Force Delta Three. Requesting location of target: Daniel Malvir. Repeat, requesting location of target: Daniel Malvir. Over. "

He had no idea if they actually said _over_ other than in the movies, but desperate times..

"_Air Force Alfa, you are reading loud and clear. Request of base codes. Over."_

Shell. He didn't have that. What was he supposed to do now? Don barely managed to think before the soldier furiously pressed buttons and was giving him the go-ahead sign. Frowning, he gave it a shot.

"They're coming your way. Over."

"_I see 'em. Go for now."_

Don smiled brightly at the soldier and gave him thumbs up in his enthusiasm. The man nodded and hurridly motioned towards the device. Oh yeah, he was on the phone.

"I need Malvir's location, guys."

The radio when silent for a few minutes and Don's stomach clenched. Then suddenly,

"_I got him."_ It was an older voice, one Don didn't recognize_. "Bad news, Sir. He's standing on the top of the Statue of Liberty."_

_I'm sorry, what? _Don did a double take and he almost sat with his mouth hanging open. The soldier across from him was staring at him with wide eyes.

"What's he doing up there?" he finally got out.

"_He seems to be smirking, Sir. He's surrounded by soldiers and we are unable to get close. We'd rather not just blow the whole thing up, you see."_

Dammit, this was not happening! Donatello rubbed his temples, trying to figure out what to do. He needed a plan and he needed it fast. Where was Leo anyway?

Not knowing how much the soldiers knew, except they all seemed to be under strict orders of following _their_ orders, Don gave it another shot

"I need you to locate the turtles. Where are they?"

The line went silent again and Don hoped his brothers were okay. He didn't know what he would do if something happened to them, it was something he refused to think about. The soldier beside him suddenly nudged him and once he had his attention, pointed upwards. Don glanced up at the helicopter soaring above.

"Can I talk to him, too?"

A confirming nod and Don gave it another shot.

"Yeah, I'm gonna need eagle eyes on this one. Everyone up in the sky, take a peak down and look for something green with a shell." Rolling his eyes at what he was about to say next, he continued, "They've been color coordinated. I need color and location."

He was thrilled to see the helicopter in the sky started moving closer to the ground and seemed to systematically searching the streets. The radio cackled.

"_Sir, we've got purple at Madison and Park Ave."_

He was? A brief look around confirmed it. He almost sighed dramatically, but held it back. He had to stop that habit.

"Yeah, good work, guys. Now find me blue, red and orange."

He didn't have to wait long for the next one, this one coming from a soldier judging by the background noise.

"_This is Clive, from Green Berets. I've got my eyes on blue."_

"Where are you, Clive?" Don asked, hoping fiercely they were nearby. The respond was slow.

"_I'm sorry, Sir, I'm afraid I'm awfully disorientated."_

Well, that was understandable.

"That's okay. Can you get a message to Le- to blue?"

"_Yessir!"_

"All right, wait for further orders."

Because he didn't know what to tell Leo. They had to meet up and go after Malvir, but where?

"Another request, guys. I need Mira Johnson on the line."

Surprisingly, it didn't take long. He assumed it was because she was still behind the lines, in the apartment he honestly couldn't quite remember where was in his confusion. He hoped she was safe.

"_What?"_ Came the bitter reply and Don chuckled.

"Aw, not happy to hear from me? I'm crushed."

"_Donnie?"_

"Yup. Listen, I need you to do me a favor."

"_Whaddya need? Are you okay?"_

Touched that a human cared enough to ask, Don was hesitant about putting her in danger. But he knew it they needed to work together. Mira might not be a warrior, but after having worked with her, he knew she was one shell of a stubborn woman. She could do this.

"I need you and James to get my submarine and helicopter."

"_Your submarine? You hiding even more toys from us?"_

He chuckled, "You've got no idea what I've got up my shell."

"_Can't wait to find out."_

Horrifyingly blushing when he realized what he'd been saying and noticing the amused look on his companion's face, he fought to change the subject.

"Just go get them." He heard her laugh in the background but chose to ignore her. "I can't tell you where though..."

He couldn't possibly tell her where they lived. Well, she kind of knew, but the rest of the army didn't.

Oh, God, the entire army was listening in.

"Okay, go back to where we were and go to the water. Under the bridge there's a panel. Call me when you get there."

"_Gotcha. And bring James, right?"_

"Yes, does he know how to fly?"

"_Not really. But no worries, we'll improvise."_

Aw, geez, they would improvise? Don felt dread almost swallow him up and he suddenly wished more than anything that he'd taken a few second to say goodbye to _them_.

Hours he'd worked on them. Scavenged for them. They were his design, his creation, his _children_. Letting James and Mira handle them was like letting your child in the care of incompetent parents.

He fought to calm himself for a moment before he pressed the respond button.

"Just.. Be careful, okay?"

"_It'll be okay, Donnie, I won't let them get hurt."_

Not feeling the least bit better, he nodded even though she wouldn't be able to see him. The fighting was still going steady and he needed to find his brothers now.

"Got anything, guys?"

Fighting to ignore the worry building in him, as it always did when formulating a plan and going through all the risk, all the _what if'_s, he waited with baited breath.

"_I got red! He's really fast though, not sure I'll be able to keep visual for long._

"Gotcha. Anyone on orange?"

"_He just rode past me!"_

Don hesitated, then decided he must've heard wrong.

"Come again?"

"_Orange just rode past me!"_

Don flinched, "Tell me he didn't?"

"_Sorry, Sir. He is riding an elephant. I am uncertain of how much control he has of the animal though."_

"Is he yelling anything? Yeehaw? Cowabunga? Turtle Power?"

"… All of the above, Sir."

Great. Mikey was riding an elephant through the streets of New York. He glanced at the soldier beside him.

"What's your name?" he asked, suddenly wanting to know.

"Simmons, Sir."

"Hi, Simmons, I'm Don. Do you have any younger brothers?"

"I am a younger brother, Sir."

"Well, are you up for following me a bit? I need to keep in contact and get my younger brother off an elephant."

"Yes Sir. It would be an honor."

".. I'm sorry to say it might not be that glorious."

Mira pulled James down the sewers as they helped each other remember the way they had went when they'd finally gone topside. She wasn't particularly fond of the smell and the rats but she was a tad excited about going to find a submarine. She hadn't sailed a submarine before, having been behind a desk most of her life, but she felt ready to try. Mira was also sure that James hadn't flown a helicopter before, and he seemed less exited than her, but as she'd told him, if John McClane could do it, so could he.

That didn't seem to help.

"I'm pretty sure this is it," James stopped her and reached up to pull on a pipe. When the wall impressively swung open, Mira sighed in relief. She wasn't keen on wandering down here much longer and she knew from experience that the turtles' home smelled just fine, once you got inside. Probably courtesy of Donatello.

"Okay, get to water."

She'd spotted the water the first time she was there as well and hurriedly walked to the edge, right beside the bridge. She'd been astounded by how home-y the whole place felt and her new friends had definitely made it their own.

James following closely behind, she noticed a small platform underneath the bridge and rolled her eyes.

Obviously, it was made with a ninja in mind. How in the world she was supposed to swing herself down there, she had no idea. Made sense, that when Donnie made it, he hadn't actively thought of making stairs or anything remotely useful if you weren't in top shape.

"Can you give me a hand to get down there?" she asked James hopefully and he eyed the jump questionably.

"Ninjas," he scoffed, earning a smiled from Mira, when she realized he'd come to the same conclusion. Together they worked out a way. James hung as low as he dared and lowered Mira down by the hands. He had a hard time not showing how hard it was not to drop her, since, as Mira, he had sat behind a desk most of his life and didn't have much muscle to show for it.

Even though James lowered her as much as he could, Mira still had to be swung slightly and fall a few feet. Landing on all fours on the platform, she smirked, feeling quite accomplished by not getting wet.

"See any panel?"

Mira nodded, examining the many leverages and buttons with interest. She had no idea what most of these did, but she suspected at least some of them had something to do with the water flow.

It seemed a pretty good offense if their home was ever found. Drown the lot and get the hell out of there with a sub. When someone violated one's home, they'd get what was coming to them. It was the escape plan she'd make.

"Get Don back on the walkie," she ordered James, only to have him throw it to her. She fumbled with it, but eventually managed to get a good grib.

"Don, do you copy? Over."

At first it was mostly static, then, _"Yeah, I'm here. You ready?" _She had to strain to hear him and searched the device for a volume button. No such luck.

"What am I doing here, Donnie?"

"_White button, then press 1984."_

Doing as instructed, she jumped in surprise when the water levels started rising, getting her shoes wet.

"Don, what the hell? I'm getting wet!"

"_Wait for it."_

And they both did, watching as something touched the surface. As it emerged, the water retreated and Mira found herself starring at.. well, a submarine. A very unorthodox, impressive submarine.

"Gosh, that is so cool!" James burst, leaning down to bet the machine that now suddenly reached his height. Mira swallowed, and suddenly doubted her ability to get the machine to Don without a scratch.

Assuming the door must be on the top, she reached out and jumped into the slick surface. Climbing slowly and steadily, she made it to the top and started working on screwing the lid off. Peering down, she glanced at James before disappearing down the hole. Without a second thought, James went after, closing the lid behind him.

The sight that greeted them was very surprising. Mira had suspected the sub to be small and confining, yet she stood in a _room_ with plenty of space to move. The front windows gave an impressive view, even if it was still simply of the flooded tunnels and the possibilities seemed endless.

She nearly skipped to the driver seat, leaving James to pick one of the others.

"Take that one, it looks like weapon control," she gestured.

"_I take it you found her?"_

Mira had nearly forgotten Don was waiting on the other line and she quickly found her walkie and pressed it to her mouth.

"Don, you are one awesome turtle, did you know that? How do I drive her? Or sail?"

Listening to Don explain and getting the beauty to move was one of the most exciting moments of Mira's life. The machine was oddly quiet. She'd expected the engines to make a lot of noise, but it was more a low humming in the background. Grabbing the steering wheel, she took the right turns and got them out of the tunnel systems. It was dark and scary down there, and she couldn't wait to get out into the more open water.

"_Okay, this is where James gets off."_

James looked up in surprise and quickly went to the exit. He hesitated at the door and waited for Mira's signal that she had emerged wherever they were now.

"Okay. I'm up. Good luck," she smiled at him and hoped he'd get the helicopter in the air. They really needed all the help they could get, for whatever Donnie was planning.

"You too. Be careful. Don't drown."

"I won't. Don't crash."

"I won't."

And with that he left the sub. She could hear his footstep as he jumped of the machine and after checking the lid was probably closed, she hurried back to the controls.

"Okay, Donnie. Where to now?"

"_Out in the open."_


	17. Chapter 17

Ah.

The sweet taste of victory.

Watching his hated city burn slowly gave Malvir a feeling of satisfaction he hadn't expected. Having worked for the government and been screwed over and vetoed, he didn't give a rat's ass about how many people died. It was all for the greater good after all. Obviously, people didn't know what was best for them, so he'd have to tell them. But since that didn't work, he'd resigned himself to _showing_ them.

People in general were nothing more than ants, surviving and coping wherever they were. They didn't know there was a better way, they thought that the life they were living, the mess of an anthill they'd build, was the best option.

Obviously, they were wrong.

Malvir was going to save all these mindless people. Those who voted against him, those who disagreed, he was going to show them that his system was much better.

He was going to create a structured ant farm out of the messy pile of everything they'd created for themselves. Of course they'd be confused at first. And not all would want to live a better life but those he could dispose of. Those people weren't important.

He was really doing the world a favor. Honestly, with him dominating the world, there'd be no war. There'd be no question as to what was right. He was going to enforce order in chaos and if he had to break a few eggs to make an omelet, so be it.

The loss of lives was nothing compared to the utopia he was going to make. He'd realized the problem with this world almost immediately.

People had too many choices. Too much freedom.

Because people doesn't want to make choices, they want to have the choice made for them so they can do what they do best.

Eat. Sleep. Work.

No more misery, no more sorrow, no more disappointment or fear.

All there would be left would be mindless happiness. Appreciation of their new Lord.

Of course, he'd choose a brilliant few who would serve under him. Obviously, he couldn't rule everything himself. He'd sort out the rebellious; the strong willed with the same techniques of the mind he used to insure he had no traitors in his midst.

And then he'd start outwards. When he'd created the perfect world, he'd go big. He'd create an army like no other and he'd take on the universe. Too many times had aliens decided to mess with his planet and he took each and every as a personal insult as the soon-to-be ruler of Earth.

Of course, he'd have to stay low, he wasn't stupid. But give it five, maybe ten years and he'd pose a threat to every species out there.

Oh he had big plans. Big dreams, some might say. But that's not how he saw it. It's not dreams, it's visions. It's a mission and a goal and he's going to accomplish them because he's smart.

He'd accounted for all the variables. He hadn't underestimated anyone, which in turn had all this seemed far too easy.

Having planned all of this, he'd often found himself daydreaming. Of where he was going to be when it all came to this – the point of no return.

When victory was certain and he knew exactly how everything was going to pan out. When there were no more variables and no more chances of failing.

He wanted to find the perfect vantage point. The perfect spot to watch it all happen.

And then it had dawned on him. What better place to witness the destruction of freedom than from the Statue of Liberty itself.

So even though the air was colder than he'd expected and even though the wind was stronger than he'd planned for, he sat stubbornly on the head of the most symbolic statue in the world and watched.

Smoke. Fire. Destruction. Rebellion.

And he was looking down on that ant hill, watching the ants scurry about in fear and confusion, with psychotic satisfaction that he was controlling the foot that was crushing their meager homes.

It gave him a sense of power like you wouldn't believe.

**TMNTTMNTTMNT**

"SIR! MR. TURTLE, SIR!"

Well, ain't this just his lucky day. Well, aside being called to war of all things, but this ain't something he's used to. He's pointed in the direction of the enemy and he doesn't ask questions. He's used to just going at it until told to stop. It wasn't easy but it was something he'd gotten used to doing.

This was one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do, though. Not the morality of it, but the sheer difficulty.

"_Get the radio to red. Fast as possible."_

But the freaking turtle was nothing like a turtle, it was fast and flexible and dangerous. The short time he'd followed it, it had taken down more hostilities than anyone he'd ever seen before. But it didn't follow normal war strategy by defending a line, moving forward together and gaining ground.

It was pretty much just following the screams.

"RED TURTLE! HEY!"

But Red wasn't listening at all. He'd just turned his head towards the sound of another scream. How he could tell one from others was beyond him. Maybe they had enhanced hearing. But Red certainly didn't hear _him_.

And then the turtle was off running again. And if it was only so, then he'd have simply sprinted after him, but Red was dodging bullets at the same time and jumping from structure to vehicle to whatever and that was beyond his capability to follow. His head was literally turning from side to side to follow it, refusing to lose sight.

And Red had saved another life. He was starting to like this guy. If only he'd stay freaking still for a _second_ so he could reach him.

And then he thought of the most ridiculous thing and at first his pride refused. But he was breathing hard and had been following this weird, turtle-shaped hero-warrior for more than at least twelve blocks and he was getting desperate.

Shooting as he went along, he took down as many soldiers as he could until he got as close as he dared. Estimating he had about twenty second until the soldiers around the turtle were done for, he timed everything from the soldier coming up behind him and his escape route, should this not work as intended.

And then he did the most emotionally painful thing he'd ever have to do. He screamed.

The most high-pitched girly scream he could possibly imagine doing and it went glorious.

He even admired how surprisingly well he pulled it off.

Squeezing his eyes as closed as he dared, he swiftly moved his gun under his armpits, discreetly aiming at the man behind him, should things go wrong.

A thunk later, he looked up and stood face to face with the turtle, the enemy behind him gone.

"What?" it asked, glaring at him. Feeling slightly stumped in surprise, he could only mutter a reply,

"I gotta talk to you, Sir."

"I know, but I ain't got freaking time to humor you."

Realizing that the turtle apparently not only had noticed his efforts but blatantly ignored him, he couldn't help but get a little angry.

"What the hell's wrong with ya, you freak! I'm not doing this for fun!"

Being grabbed by his jacket, he was roughly pulled to his feet and shoved into whatever was behind him. He let out a squeak in surprise but quickly decided to glare at the turtle instead.

"What did you say?"

"_Raph, put the man down."_

The turtle paused, taking a quick look around him in puzzlement.

"What the shell..?"

He looked at the soldier questionably, who broke his insulting stare to briefly glance down on the front of his chest that _Raph's_ arm was pushing and motioned at the radio he'd accidently pressed.

"I ain't doing nothing!"

Despite his situation, he couldn't help but laugh at the insulted expression the earlier angry turtle as now trying to pull off.

"_Sure. Where are you?"_

While the turtle and whoever was on the other end of that radio talked, the soldier had a chance to get a good look at the mutant in front of him.

And he did not like what he saw.

"Shit, man, you're bleeding all over!"

He barely got it all out before a green hand clambered down on his mouth, but it had been too late.

"_How bad?"_

The question was much more urgent than the rest of their conversation and the red-banded turtle sent a glare his way.

"I'm fine, Donnie."

"_Dammit, Raph, don't lie to me, not now."_

A weary sigh and Raph, as he'd finally recognized as what must be the turtle's name, gave in,

"A few cuts, nothing too deep. Mostly bruised."

And that was the largest understatement he'd ever heard.

The turtle had a long, slick slash down his arm and what he judged to be a bullet wound in the side of his thigh. Judging by the way Raph held his fingers, he was willing to bet at least two were broken. Which would explain the one remaining weapon in his belt. Other than that the turtle was bleeding from a head wound he couldn't quite locate and the rest.. maybe it was someone else's blood?

"I'm fine. Where are we meeting?"

Surprisingly, the guy on the radio let it go and gave them a location and an order to get there as fast as possible. Somehow he doubted that he'd be included though.

"We going after Malvir?" Raph growled, making him flinch. He definitely wasn't about to stand in the way.

"_Yeah, but we're all separated. I'm going to tell Leo to meet us there and I'm going after Mikey. Mira and James are bringing the sub and the chopper. We're going in from all sides. He won't get away."_

The turtle gave one last response and finally seemed to remember he was holding the soldier up from the ground. He winced slightly as he was being dropped, having not expected it to happen so suddenly and glanced around them.

The battle had moved on and the streets were decorated with bodies and injured soldiers trying to get to safety. He observed the turtle as he took the place in, sighed and closed his eyes. When they re-opened, it was with new determination and suddenly the wounds seemed insignificant.

"Give these guys a hand," Raph motioned towards the injured. "Get 'em to safety."

The unnamed soldier nodded, figuring that for once he could try staying behind for a change, instead of constantly fighting at the frontlines. He was going to help, instead of kill, just for a little bit. He was slightly worried about the wounds on that turtle, though. Without turning around, he couldn't help but ask,

"Are you gonna be okay?"

"Shuttup."

Okay then. Well,

"What are you gonna do?"

When he didn't receive an answer, he turned around. But the turtle was already gone.

_**A/N Please** **review!**  
_


	18. Chapter 18

_**A/N Thank you so much for the reviews! They make me very happy and you guys are amazing. And welcome to all newcomers! I'm looking forward to hearing what you think when you've caught up. I'm slowly learning how difficult endings are – perhaps you guys have some advice? I'd hate for this story to crash and burn. Enjoy!**_

Leonardo's heart literally constricted when he saw the drops of blood in front of him. The smell of it was already making him nauseous, but not because of the blood itself. He's seen blood at many occasions, been the cause of it even more, but especially this sort of blood he'd seen way too many times.

This sort of blood wasn't supposed to be on the ground, carelessly spilled and wasted. This sight was always the result of the same thing – one of his brothers was injured.

Clenching his fist on his one remaining sword, the other lost by a desperate throw to the heart of a long gone soldier, he crouched to be certain.

Their blood wasn't red. It appeared red at first glimpse and only seemed slightly darker than normal, if one was familiar with blood. But a good look would reveal a greenish edge. Don had once tried explaining it. Said that, perhaps it was some sort of defense mechanism. Some bile in the fluid that made the blood act as poison to deter predators. When Mikey had reacted violently to that, not being able to contain the thought of being poisoning in any way, Don had been quick to suggest it could just be the way they expelled waste materials. He'd never been able to find out. Don could do a lot, but he'd sacrificed his time from science and biology studies to engineering and maintenance. To project at serve his family the only way he knew how – by making a fully functional kitchen and alarm system, instead of figuring out why their blood was different.

It made their blood easily recognizable, if you knew what to look for, and Leo didn't like seeing the long trail of _their _blood disappear into a small corner pharmacy.

He turned to spot his newest ally and saw Clive had taken the breather Leo had encourage as the heat of the battle had settled. It had been like this most of the day. There would be intense fighting, it would sort of die down or move on and they'd get a chance to breathe before getting caught in the fire again. It felt like they'd been through the entire city this way but somehow getting nowhere.

"Clive? You still alive?"

His instincts were telling him to just follow the trail and get to his brother immediately, but if nothing else, Leo was a leader and a strategist. He'd been caught in too many traps and scenarios – going in without backup when he could possibly get one, was just plain stupid.

"Yessir. Just reloading."

Which had been his response every time Leo had asked if he was okay.

"Good. Listen, I need you to get cover somewhere opposite that store," he pointed at the pharmacy. Not even thinking of questioning his orders and Clive immediately stood and surveyed the area.

It was pretty nice not to be challenged at every order.

"You going in?"

"Yeah. Just, if it goes bad, give me a way out, okay?"

"You got it."

Hurriedly, the soldier found cover behind a car and cocked his gun on the hood. He gave Leo a brief nod who ninja'ed his way to the door.

There was still plenty of shooting and exploding objects, yet for once it wasn't aimed at him. Leo managed to slip unnoticed to the store and pushed the door opened, flinching at the little bell signaling his arrival.

The store was a mess. Obviously, some saw this as their chance to grab whatever they could and get away with it. The shelves were empty and the cash register gone. Leo briefly regretted that they didn't wear shoes, with all the glass on the floor and carefully stepped fully inside, letting the door fall close.

As soon as it did, the sound was instantly muffled and he almost sighed with relief. He would never disregard silence again. It was precious. The sounds of battle could still be heard, but he found himself breathing a bit easier from the lack of sudden noises, since it all seemed more of a loud rumble now.

Consciously loosening the grip on his sword slightly, he carefully avoided the shards of glass and systematically checked every aisle. The blood led to the very back, but he wouldn't be surprised if a wounded soldier had taken refuge here, and he knew those to be the most desperate ones.

Normally, he'd rely on his hearing in a situation like this, but the noise from outside was still too overwhelming and he wasn't about to trust a sense the most likely had been damaged.

He did hear, though, the curses that suddenly came from the back room and he definitely recognized the voice.

"Raph?" he enquired carefully, knowing Raph was his most temperamental when injured. He was relieved when Raph leaned back and rolled his eyes.

"Geez, Leo, would you stop looking like a cornered kitten and help me out?" he demanded, throwing towels in his direction. Ignoring the jibe, Leo slid his sword into the shed on his back and unfolded the towels.

"How bad?"

Watching his brother emerge covered in blood and limping slightly, though trying hard to hide it, was admittedly one of the reason Leo believed he'd have gray hairs on his head, was he a human.

"Most s'not mine," he said as if a way of explanation.

"Yeah, I'll feel better when we get you cleaned up."

A nod and they both set to work, Raph mostly batting Leo's hands away and insisting on doing it himself, followed by Leo frowning at him until he gave in and the occasional withering glare whenever a particular nasty wound was found – like that of the bullet.

The long slash on his arm was deep but thin and being in a pharmacy Leo found everything he needed to stitch it up. He cleaned and bandaged it, quickly testing if Raph still had the full use of his arm – which he luckily did, except it, in his words, hurt like shell. The bullet wound had gone all the way through, yet it was off to the side and his leg was fully functioning. Leo did the best with what Don had taught him, Raph gritting his teeth in pain since they didn't dare give him any painkillers, not knowing what to take or how it would react to their systems. They needed Don.

The head wound luckily wasn't that serious and had stopped bleeding while they were working. Other than that, the few nicks that remained were easily taking care of, even if Raph protested loudly when Leo wanted to place a small band aid on the remaining scratches.

Maybe because the only thing he could find were the children ones.

"Fine! Let's just get going," Leo dropped the subject and moved to help Raph stand.

Getting to their feet, Raph stretched and tried out his new limitations. Complaining slightly and blaming everyone but himself, he trudged out of their cover and onto the street, leaving Leo to hurry behind.

"Donnie got to you yet?" Raph finally asked, stopping just outside and finding the fighting had moved on. Leo signaled Clive to join them and nodded.

"Yeah, Clive's got a radio. Said he was going to get Mikey of an elephant."

Raph shot Clive one mistrusting glance before raising his eyebrows at Leo.

"Why must Mikey ride every creature we come near?"

"Maybe we should get him a horse for Christmas."

"Eats a lot less than an elephant. But you're cleaning up after it," Raph poked Leo's chest with one if his unbroken fingers, making a point and took off. Leo was left gaping after him.

"No! You know Don is the one who's gonna say yes to him, he can scoop the poop!"

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT**

"I fail to see how we're going to manage this."

The howling laughter followed his statement, and even though Don recognized it to be slightly hollow, laughter had always been Mikey's way of dealing.

"Well, how would one usually go about getting a turtle off an elephant?" Donnie asked casually, looking at his surroundings to find something helpful.

"Can't we ask him to get off?"

"What has all the yelling been about, if not to get his attention?"

Simmons nodded thoughtfully. They had been rather verbal in getting the turtle off. Unfortunately, it had mostly attracted firearms and after that, they had searched for a more subtle way.

"Can't you knock him down with something?"

"I don't want to risk him falling and hurting himself."

"Stop the elephant then?"

"How? It's bigger than your average elephant and I don't have any peanuts on me."

"Well, can't you call him?"

"They're not working, there's way too much traffic right now."

"Then get on it with him!"

"Have you seen that trunk? And that's not exactly blunt teeth it's dancing around with. I'd prefer not to go toe to toe with that."

Simmons sighed frustrated and ran a hand through his hair. Looking up, he grinned and nudged Donnie.

"Well, Don, I bet you can get up there," he stated and pointed to the lights hanging over the streets. With a court nod, Don's eyes lit up and he was off.

Getting there wasn't the problem. Hanging upside down wasn't the problem. Reaching down and grabbing his brothers shell and pull him from the elephant's back wasn't a problem.

The added weight however was.

Simmons flinched as the orange banded turtle yelped from suddenly being pulled back and as he slit off the back and their full weight rested on the thin wire. The wire sank, being stretched to its full capacity. As it was being stretched, it slowed as it reached the ground and the two turtles merely let go a few feet from it and the wire sprung back into place.

Funny how things just works out perfectly some times.

Rushing towards the two to see if they needed any aid, the last thing he expected to hear was,

"Can I keep her?"

With wide eyes he watches as Don slapped the other turtle on the head.

"No!"

Then without further ado, enter the most amazing, blue puppy dog eyes, Simmons could ever claim to have seen.

"No."

Turning up the volume.

"No!"

Glistening eyes.

"No."

Trembling lip.

"… aw c'mon, Mikey, you got to keep April!"

Hands folded in front, lashes highlighted.

"Fine. But Raph is cleaning up after her."

"Yes! You are the greatest brother ever!"

"On one more condition! She's not getting anywhere near my lab. Or the garage. Or the kitchen. And you've got sole responsibility."

"Yes! No problem!"

"And you're feeding her! And she's not allowed in front of the TV."

"Fine! She'll live in my room."

"She's not going to fit in the elevator. Or the sewers in general."

"It'll be fine, I'll keep her somewhere else."

Simmons had forgotten what he was doing and reached a hand out to help the turtle off the ground.

"Hello, Sir, I'm Simmons."

His hand was shook viciously and he was greeted with a grand smile.

"Hi! I'm Mikey." He then pointed to the elephant that had never stopped its course and was now running aimlessly down the street. "That's Wonder Woman."

He nodded mutely, yet Don apparently couldn't help himself,

"You're not naming her Wonder Woman."

"Why not? She'll love it."

Simmons shook his head in despair as he followed the turtles that had started towards the meeting point.

"Atomic Betty?" Mikey continued.

"No."

"Starfire?"

"Doesn't really fit."

"Black Widow?"

"Nah."

Suddenly the smaller turtle snapped his fingers,

"Buffy!"

Don's eyes widened and he high-fived his brother and laughed,

"Perfect!"

_**Remember to review!**_


	19. Chapter 19

_**A/N: Your reviews are lovely and addictive, thank you everyone, so much! I hope you've had a very merry Christmas. Everyone got what they wished for? Was it a new chapter of Way of Warriors? Well, I'm not Santa(..or?) but here you go! Pretend it's been nicely wrapped in green paper with a big blue/red/purple/orange bow of your preference.**_

The relief Spencer felt when he saw all four turtles gather at dock three was greater than he had thought. During the fighting he had mostly functioned as home base, directing the fire and keeping an eye on the enemy movement. As soon as he'd caught Don's voice on the radio and watched James and Mira leave, he'd left to find the meeting point.

No way was he missing out on this.

Cooper had finally joined them once again. Apparently, the old geezer had an old radio in his basement that he'd used to follow the progress and tune in on their location. It worried Spencer slightly if others could have done the same, but honestly he didn't think Malvir had any reason to.

Their team had taken some serious hits. The first to leave had been Andrew and he hadn't seen him since their argument. Honestly, he'd expected more to act like him but the chosen members had been very forthcoming.

This was why he grieved their losses all the more. They'd lost both Michael and Robert during the surprise attack. He'd called their families, been the one to deliver the news and though he hadn't known them personally, the grief his families met him with was more than enough to know that these had been good people. Had he had the time, he'd have visited them personally, but he was at war.

He had to let them know, though, no matter how hard it had been to say.

Timothy was in the hospital, having been put in a drug-induced coma. The hospital personal had been positive when he'd called, but he was definitely sitting this one out.

Johnny had joined him a few minutes ago, dirty and tired but otherwise fine. He'd rushed in with everyone on the streets, young and eager, but Spencer recognized the change in his eyes. The heaviness of the burden he suddenly carried of too many deaths and too much terror.

Less than a week ago (had it really not been any longer?) he'd been thinking of shielding Johnny from the toughest parts of the job just a while longer. It was refreshing to work with an enthusiastic cop, ready to save the world, and not be hindered by the losing attitude his colleagues had gained.

Now he wonders if he did right by him to hide the darker side of humanity from him.

Hearing Leonardo call for a regroup, he shook his head clear of thought and joined them. Approaching their odd group, he was not the least bit surprised hearing Donatello argue with his brother.

"Raph, get out of that."

"Nu-uh, I got this fair and square, Don!"

"I'm not talking to you in that."

"You let Mikey have his freaking elephant! Why can't I get nice stuff too?"

"We can't have nice stuff because you guys break everything. And I know what you're planning with that."

"Oh and what am I planning?"

"Probably something nasty and it's probably going to involve Mikey as either an accomplice or a victim, either way, he's going to come _whining_ to _me_."

"You're just jealous."

"Am not."

"Yeah, you're just pissed you didn't think of bringing one to play with when all of this is over."

"But it's not over yet, so get out of the damn robot! Remember what happened last time you brought a huge robot home?"

"Hey, Karai brought that into our home, I didn't do a thing!"

"You're going to break the damn thing anyway and then _you _come _whining_ to _me_."

"I won't break it. Relax."

"You'll probably break it by challenging Leo. He's gonna cut of the arms, you know that."

"Then it's his fault."

"And those are hard to fix, it takes time and because by that point you'll have left to avoid a lecture, Leo will be breathing down _my_ neck, _whining_ about _you_."

"Fine, I'll get out. But I'm keeping it."

"And you know what then? Then Splinter hears, and even though he tries to stand back and let us resolve things on our own now, because of old age and all-"

"Shuttup, Don."

"- he's going to worry, you know he is. And Master Splinter doesn't whine. But he does come awfully close when you and Leo go at it."

"Don, I'm out! Shuttup!"

"And then you come back, _whining_ to me that I haven't finished fixing it and _whining_ to Leo about leaving you alone and _whining_ to Mikey about standing still so you can hit him."

"I don't whine."

"Oh, please, if you guys didn't have shells I'd think you were dogs."

"You're asking for it, Donnie."

And Spencer dared think that if Leonardo hadn't interfered at that moment, he'd have gotten to see a full blown tumble across the floor. It lifted his spirits to see that despite their situation they still manage to think of an after. They were planning to survive this.

The briefing was harsh and unforgiving. He relayed their losses with regret but didn't linger. There would be a time for grieving later.

They'd managed to evacuate a lot of people, but here and there people were still trapped, either captured, cornered or under rubble of fallen buildings. The damage to the city was extensive and outside help's only way into the city was with aircrafts. Trouble was, Malvir had obviously thought about that, creating a boundary circling Manhattan, his own aircrafts attacking anything nearing it and creating a safe zone that anything not already on the inside had no chance of breaking.

Donatello reported Malvir's location on the Statue of Liberty, Spencer's stomach clenching at the thought of harming her when they were going in for an attack. Then he continued explaining he had sent for reinforcement in the form of a submarine and a chopper.

When Spencer had questioned the ability for the chopper to get to them, he'd merely reminded him that it had a cloaking device.

Right.

Leonardo and Raphael didn't have much more to add, having been caught in the streets for most of the time, though surprisingly for all, Michelangelo gave them a detailed descriptions of the positions of the soldiers surrounding the statue.

Now they needed a plan. And preferably more than one. Just in case.

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNT**

Daniel Malvir was smirking. He was tempted to get up on to the edge, spread his arms out wide and yell, "I'm king of the world!"

He was tempted, so he did. He didn't care about the odd looks he received from his men, he barely registered it. Letting his voice flow throughout the city, letting the people know who they would now bow down to, had been a fantasy of his ever since he decided on this plan. Laughing, he stepped down from the edge and joined his team inside the head of the giant statue.

Everything was going according to plan. He hadn't made any of the typical mistakes. He hadn't underestimated anyone. He hadn't made any long speeches or allowed his ego to get in the way. He'd been unpredictable and original. It had taken him hours of preparation, genetic manufacturing elephant DNA and engineering the machines and improving on the original ideas. It was something their defenses didn't prepare to deal with, which threw them off slightly. Just enough for him to get a head start.

He'd had his men create a perimeter, literally taking Manhattan hostage and the next step would be slowly expanding his front lines, while threatening that any hostile fire would result in losing Manhattan and lots of innocent lives. He didn't care. There were plenty of people to worship him in the world. He'd expected to lose at least a few hundred millions.

Of course, when he'd taken over everything and was planning to go for other planets, he needed an army. There he'd lose a good amount as well. But by then, he was fairly certain he'd have perfected cloning. Then he'd show appreciation to his favorite movie, by creating a clone army.

He was still working on the designs, not sure if he should go with the white helmet and armor or something more original and fashionable.

"How are we doing, Sam?" he asked his assistant.

"Well. We're losing men rapidly. Seems the enemy is gaining reinforcement through the sewers, which we had not accounted for. They're popping up wherever they're needed and it's also become a popular choice of retreat. We can't follow them down and they're slowly gaining the upper hand again."

Daniel sighed, "That's not good news, Sam."

Sam nodded grimly once. "I'm aware, Sir. We have no way of sealing their exit points, since there are so many all over the city, and we have no way of cutting them of, since they're already in."

"Okay. Let's see. Instead of finding out where they're getting out, find where they're getting in. I want two hundred men following in behind them and the rest waiting on the other ends. We're cornering them in. They'll be sitting ducks in the sewers."

Sam looked up in barely concealed horror. "Sir, that would be a massacre!" He hesitated giving the order and Daniel immediately shot him a nasty look.

"Got a problem, Sam?" he asked innocently. Sam's hands rested on his keyboard and averted his gaze in submission.

"Of course not, Sir," he finally acknowledge, but he didn't give the order. Daniel scowled and Sam made a noise in surprise as he ripped the headphones of his assistant. Giving the order, he threw them violently to the table and placed a firm hand on Sam's shoulder. He leaned down and breathed quietly, "Remember what happened to Jensen? Hesitate like that again and you will meet a far worse fate."

Sam took a breath and shook his fear off. He nodded and took the headphones back on, demanding rapports and continued his work.

"Good boy," Daniel muttered, heading outside again. There was something fascinating about the city from such a high vantage point.

"Andrew?" he looked to his newest General, watching him glance up and stand attention. "Since you've been.. mingling with our enemies, what is their next move?"

"Hardly mingling. I wasn't even there through day one of their little get-together."

"I see. So you're basically useless."

"I wouldn't say that," Andrew pointedly lifted his gun, "You'll probably find no other that'll want to get rid of these freaks more than I."

"Glad to see you've come to your senses," Daniel commented, leaning against the rail. "Even if our goals are slightly different."

"I saw what those freaks from the sewers did. That mutagen that was released that changed people into monsters? They lose their mind and kill whatever they can get near. I was on the anti-mutant team, working for the Earth Protection Force before. I know that those freaks can't be trusted. They should all be put down. And if I need to help you to do it, so be it. Rather a world with you as ruler, than a world filled with mutants, thinking they're equal to us."

"Hear, hear, Andrew."


	20. Chapter 20

_**A/N: Mighty nervous about this one. Please, review and tell me how it worked out.**_

"_C'mon, James, raise 'em!"_

"_You'll just hit me again. I thought you were supposed to teach me how to fight, not how to get beaten up."_

_Raph snorted, "I'm not teaching you how to fight."_

_James looked dubiously at him, "Don't tell me this has simply been some sort of entertainment for you?"_

_Raph smirked and came forward, grabbing the chain of the punching back and leaning on it. They'd had a few training sessions ever since Donnie disappeared into his territory with an unconscious Mira. He'd been surprised when James came to him, all stutter and murmuring, admitting to wanting to learn how to fight. Though Raph suspected this guy had barely done anything physical in his life, he felt oddly compelled to teach the kid a few things. Learning to fight properly, like a true warrior of the shadows, took many years and hours of training and starting from scratch wasn't an option. Basic self-defence was something he could teach him, though he knew that against trained soldier, it would do squat._

_No, what this kid needed, and in such a short time, was actually something that Raph specifically could provide._

_Street fighting._

_It was something he leaned on when he was pissed off and facing PD's or any other low-life scum. The controlled fight, where he knew exactly what he was hitting, how much it would hurt and what sort of reaction it would get was all well and good._

_But sometimes he just wanted to see the opponent go down the nasty way. It was a great way to relieve tension and it kept the thugs of the streets much more effectively than simply being struck down from the shadows with a single move._

_Low-life criminals needed to fear and hurt, so they'd be less inclined to continue their behavior. Waking up without memory of what had happened in a police car wasn't as effective has having them run for their lives and believe they got off lucky._

_So basically, Raph was going to teach the biggest nerd, except perhaps for his own brother, to fight dirty._

"_It has been fun," Raph admitted, fondly remembering the countless times he'd sent the kid on his ass, "but fighting is a skill and you don't have the time or dedication to master that." _

"_No, fighting is defined as an attempt to gain power over an adversary by blows or with weapons," James argued. "Bad fighting is still fighting."_

_Raph shook his head. "No," he drew out, "that's like saying speech and intelligence is the same thing."_

"_Well, what do you then call me trying to defend myself? I fight back."_

"_That's.. flailing about," he vaguely waved his hand around. "Not fighting."_

_James gaped at him, "I think you're the rudest person I've ever met. So if you're not teaching me how to fight, what are we doing?"_

_Raph stepped back and pointed at him, "I'm teaching you to survive. There's a difference."_

_James looked at him in disbelief. "You're messing with me, aren't you?"_

_Raph shook his head, slightly surprised James had managed to pull him into a discussion of words, something Don had been trying to do for years but failed miserably. Raph got his way with his fists. Having to find a solid argument to explain oneself was not his style. _

_Surprisingly he found himself enjoying talking to James though. Perhaps it was because he, in a way, had the same sort of aura as Donnie. The pacifistic, curious, intellectual type that constantly radiated waves of calmness and peace. He always did get along with Don the best. Maybe it wasn't odd he'd found James' company comforting in a time where Don was needed elsewhere._

"_Great," James continued. "I'm a lover, not a fighter – is that it?"_

_Raph snorted, "I didn't say that. I said, what you're doing isn't fighting. What I'm teaching you isn't fighting. But you might already be a fighter and a warrior. Now, one more time."_

_James frowned, but launched himself, throwing punches and kicks right and left. Raph simply dodged for a time, as he had a habit of doing, before suddenly retaliating. Throwing the young man on the floor and pinning him down with a knee, Raph nodded, "Better. But your eyes are telling me exactly where you're going to strike. Don't reveal your intentions."_

_James nodded once. And then he couldn't help himself, "No, I'm sorry, what? You mean, I have potential to be a warrior?"_

_The turtle got up and jumped a bit from feet to feet to keep moving. "No, you either have it or you don't."_

"_But you said that you'd get it through years of training?"_

_Raph frowned at him," Why are you making it so difficult?"_

"_I'm- It's you- why don't you explain it then?" James sighed exaggerated._

_Raph waved a hand at him to come get him and as James attacked and he dodged, he started talking._

"_When you fight, you don't just fight with your skills. You fight with something more. Would you fight harder under certain circumstances? Even in situation that doesn't involve an adversary, you can fight."_

"_Fight what? With what?" James cried, frustrated he wasn't getting any closer to even scratching the turtle. Suddenly, a flip later and he was once again on the ground, being held down with one finger, right above his heart._

"_Fight for your life. Your family. Your friends. The World."_

_Silence followed. James barely breathed as the turtle continued._

"_Fighting is not giving up. Fighting is your way to say enough. You're not taking any more of this. It doesn't involve skill or training. It involves," Raph poked James chest harshly, "heart. Will." The turtle almost scowled at the next words but forced them out, "It involves love and family. Fighting is more than throwing a punch. A warrior is more than fighting. A warrior fights for something and that something better be good. The better it is to you, the better a fighter you'll be. If you have that, if you don't give up, then I'd call you a fighter and a warrior. Even if you hit like a girl."_

_James laughed and took the offered hand up. _

"_I like that. Even nerds can be warriors."_

"_Don't push it. Again."_

James snapped out of it as Leo yelled at him to watch out. Looking up, he saw a small fighter aircraft pierce through the clouds and heading straight for him. Jerking the controls in surprised, the chopper moved just enough for the laser guns to miss.

"Why aren't we cloaked?!" Leo yelled into the headset, hanging on for dear life to a seat in the back.

"I don't know what's wrong!" he hurriedly pushed the controls forward, in an attempt to build up some speed while watching the screens intently for the hostile flyer. He'd been ordered to pick up Leonardo at the dock and their mission was simple: Get Leo to Malvir.

The plan was sort of working. They were flying the right direction in any case, but the sneak attack idea got screwed along with the cloaking device, which left the distraction that Raph, Mikey and Johnny were providing by the foot of the statue futile.

"Turn back, it isn't working!" Leo yelled, gulping as he looked down though the open side door. He didn't like heights. But heights in a dodging, half working chopper seemed a tad worse than other sort of heights. "We'll think of something else!"

James almost complied, but his gut told him differently. He was aware that they'd never get a chance like this again. They were close and all he needed was to keep them alive for long enough to get Leo off and unto the statue itself. That was all he had to do.

They'd been discussing for too long and the time was for action. For once in his life he wasn't going to think first.

His new red-banded green friend had taught him that. And it seemed to work for him.

"Sorry, Leo! I'm getting you out there!" he yelled back, not sure if the headsets were still working properly, since he hadn't heard Leo through them, but rather the yell over the wind and engine. He had a hunch the normally cool leader was feeling a tad uncomfortable and he felt very sorry what he was about to do.

Leo barely managed to shriek a reply before the chopper lurched violently, narrowly avoiding another attack.

James was leaning determinedly forward in his seat, refusing to lose his courage. He barely noticed when Leo launched himself on the seat beside him. Thinking back to Raphael's words, he started talking,

"We're not giving up! I'm fighting to save this world! I'm fighting for my mom and my new friends and I know you are too!"

The chopper started violently showing danger signs and alarms but James ignored them valiantly.

"I am a fighter because I won't let this guy win," his eyes were getting blurry, knowing that every second could be the moment they' get hit. He was just flying as wildly as he dared, hoping that they'd last just long enough. He'd never been so scared. "I've had enough and I'm putting a stop to this. I won't give up."

Leo nodded quietly and James barely heard his words," You're a warrior."

He smiled ruefully, expecting Leo to understand since he'd had the same upbringing and teachings as his hot-tempered brother. He gained the last strength he needed in Leo's silent approval. Glancing up at a screen, he paled and watched it carefully as he yelled, "It's now! Hurry and jump so I can get out of here!"

Leo looked confused at first and didn't move, and James frantically repeated himself, "You gotta go! Now! Or you'll miss it! If you don't go now, it'll be too hard for me to turn back!"

The ninja turtle nodded and steeled himself for a jump, getting out the seat and patting the young man on the back.

"And Leo?," he yelled, just as Leo was about to plunge. "You show that jerk what real fighting is!"

A confident smirk and a nod later and the turtle leader had left the helicopter. James barely managed to restrain himself from breaking down, half from feeling the relief that he'd managed to do his part successfully and had gotten the job done, and half from the absolute terror he felt from what was about to happened.

He didn't want to die.

But the missile heading his way was closing in and he already knew there was no way to dodge it. He wasn't a pilot. He was a simple techy that had an odd relationship with his computer and had a proud mom for getting a job he couldn't talk out loud about.

He'd agreed to be a part of the team, not having the slightest idea of how big it was all going to be. He didn't think he'd be sacrificing himself. He belonged behind a computer.

He didn't regret a thing, though. His mind had been opened like never before and he'd seen things and made friends that were simply amazing. A lone kid, that had always been bullied, dominated and pushed aside.

He'd finally fought back. He'd finally taken control.

He just hadn't imagined it would come at such a price.

Those were his final thoughts as the heat seeking missile reached its target and the whole aircraft disappeared in a ball of fire.


	21. Chapter 21

_**A/N I should probably mention that I've never been to the Statue of Liberty and had a hard time writing this from pictures. If you spot something that just doesn't work, please let me know and tell me how it actually is so I can change it. Please review:)**_

"Raph, duck!"

Raphael threw himself to the ground immediately barely dodging the throwing stars aimed for his head. He retaliated without hesitation and watched another new and improved Foot soldier fall to the ground. They honestly weren't that much tougher, still half-trained wanna-be ninjas in his opinion. With guns and what-have-you, but resorting to such uncivilized weapons were just further proof to Raphael that true warriors they were not.

His team, consisting of Johnny, who'd given him the warning, Mikey and whatever good-guy soldiers they'd been able to round up for the final attack, were basically working as a distraction. Normally, this was Michelangelo's specialty but an all-out attack on every soldier at the foot of the statue was really giving him a work-out and he couldn't complain.

Except he wanted to. His wounds were aggravating and he'd even gained a few more scratches. Nothing of import, but he was getting grumpy and he kind of wanted a shot at the main villain before he passed out from blood loss or exhaustion – whichever came first.

Mikey was doing brilliantly, though. His boundless source of energy aided him excellently and allowed him to constantly carry on a steady stream of insults. Raph would never admit it, but hearing Mikey blabber on in battle had always been a source of reassurance for Raph. They'd been in some tough spots, but if Mikey was still joking around, he knew there wasn't anything to worry about.

No, the worrying happened if the youngest stopped talking.

Which he had.

Raph raised his leg in front of him and shoved the nearest enemy off him, making sure his back was clear as he turned rapidly in place, his eyes narrowing in search of the resident goofball. Basically, the small island that the statue was firmly placed upon was crowded with a mix of soldiers, black and green. In the commotion, he found it increasingly hard to focus on a single person, as if he was watching a group of zebras on the run, white and black mixing together as if it was one big entity. Singling out his brother proved much more difficult than he would have liked.

Pumping with adrenalin, Raph was sure his heart couldn't beat much faster. Like shell Mikey was going to disappear on him. Realizing a big ol' lady was in the way, he starting fighting his way through the blazing guns.

"Mikey!" Raph called, jumping on a soldier's shoulders, gripping them tight and flipping backwards down in front of him. The Foot soldier yelped as he was being lifted off the ground by the turtle's momentum and thrown several feet before finally hitting the water.

Where was the knucklehead? Raph managed to call for him in between bodies. He barely registered them as living anymore, simply knocking out as many as he could and throwing the rest in the water. He'd discovered they weren't too eager to get out of it and once again join the battle, which Raphael took personal pride in.

Suddenly he grinned when he heard what he'd been waiting for.

"Raph!"

It was very faint and Raph had barely registered it. Turning to find the source of the voice, he spotted Mikey. Way up high and too far away. On a toe.

"What the shell are you doing up there?!" he yelled furiously, hurriedly shortening the distance to join Mikey on the giant foot. Climbing the base of the statue didn't prove too difficult, but it did take some time to get through the several levels to reach his brother.

"It's a foot, Raphie!" Mikey enthused when he finally reached him, jumping on the spot. "Gettit? Huh? We're fighting the Foot.. on a foot!"

Rolling his eyes and wondering about his brother's sanity, Raph shoved his brother off the toe and watched him trip down the sandal to finally land on his shell. He reached down and quickly dragged Mikey behind it, having it provide an excellent cover. A few of their own had already taken the advantage and were kneeling behind the feet and folds of dress, making their enemies an easy target. It seemed they'd gained the upper hand.

"Oh my, no, Raphie! You bad, naughty turtle!" Mikey suddenly said, looking pointedly at the dress. "I know what you're thinking! You mustn't look up a woman's dress! I know you want to, but what would Master Splinter say?" he exclaimed dramatically

"It's a freaking statue!" Raph spat, smacking him on the head, wonder why Mikey found himself so utterly hilarious. Ignoring his brother's snickering he asked, "Where the shell is Donnie?"

"Doesn't mean she doesn't have-"

A large boom interrupted whatever he was saying that Raph was sure he didn't want to hear and the both looked up. For the first time in a long time, Mikey cursed, though Raph barely registered it for the blood rushing to his head and his fingers going numb.

"No, it's okay!" Mikey suddenly burst, latching a hand onto Raph's shoulder and squeezed. "Look?"

And Raph could breathe again as he saw a green spot falling through the skies and somehow swinging around and landing on the large raised arm. He assumed they were too far away to see the grabbling hook their brother must have used and nudged Mikey relieved.

"Wanna go join Fearless?" he grinned.

"No way he's having all the fun!" the enthusiastic turtle replied, looking upwards. "Can they really fit people in that head?"

"Not many," Raph took a look at the route they'd have to take. "It'll probably be hard to fight up there. Got your climbing gear?"

"A ninja is always prepared!"

"Sure, boy scout, let's get goin'."

"Wait, wait, wait! Wanna race?"

**TMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTTMNTMNT**

Feeling the heat on his back, Leo felt all color drain from his face. The senseless feeling of falling was making his mind panic, the fear of heights somehow still influence him after all those years. He still hated heights as much as he did as a child, but the fear didn't control him anymore and he could do what he needed to do. It was no longer an inhibitor.

It still scared the shell out of him, though, which was why it took him a moment to realize what had happened.

Regret coursed through him and between the pain of losing another teammate - something he hadn't truly tried before, not like this – and the knot in his stomach from falling, Leo had never felt more determined to do what he had to.

Pulling out the grabbling hook from his belt, he aimed for the large railing surrounding the torch and took a shot. His aim proved to be flawless and as the thin wire took him in a large arc. As he started going upwards again, he felt the fear and worry being replaced by determination and anger. He was sick of manipulating bastards trying to take over the world. He was sick of losing people he had finally started to trust, at least somewhat, and he was sick of watching people he cared about get hurt or die.

Leo had thought that by only including his brothers and father in his circle of people he loved, he would be able to protect them better. He'd be able to protect himself better. But they kept making friends and his circle got bigger and bigger. What Donatello had originally asked of him, to include everyone in New York, everyone in the world – he'd thought it would be too much. He knew if he allowed himself to care, he'd be miserable when he failed to save them every time.

But as they'd gotten to know the people that were to help them and he'd watched his brothers make friends, he'd started to realize that it would be inevitable.

And as he'd watched New York fall under the tyranny of a self-absorbed maniac he knew they'd made the right choice. Of course he cared about every living being, even if they would never care about him. This world would never come close to being a world that accepted his brothers and him, not if they weren't willing to take the first steps.

You had to trust to be trusted.

As he came around again, he had the gun-like handling retract the wire and pull him up enough so he could land neatly on the thumb holding the torch. Crouched there, he considered his options, the hook retreating and ready for use once more.

The best would be to get in unnoticed. There was still daylight but the tiny figures fighting underneath him, made it possible. They were exactly the distraction he needed. With Malvir focusing on what was going on down there, he would never suspect Leo come at him from above. If Malvir did discover what they were up to, he'd either call for back up and they'd be overwhelmed or he'd run and they'd have no way of finding him again, leaving them with no choice but to battle and defeat the entire army.

Leo shuddered at the loss of life that would entail.

Rappelling halfway down the length of the arm, he wondered how he'd get on top of the head, without passing any windows and get spotted. From his vantage point, he could see two men sitting by desk, each with several screens in front of them. He guessed they were keeping an eye on things and giving orders.

He noticed a guard by a window and assumed there'd be at least a few more, but Malvir was nowhere to be seen.

He had to be there. He had to.

Not sure if he should break his cover, just in case Malvir wasn't there, he hesitated. He needed the element of surprise badly and there really wasn't any point to going in if his target was gone.

"I can't get a visual of Malvir," he stated to the thin air, clinging to the statue and keeping an eye out for any aircrafts that might reveal his position.

"_He has to be there," _Spencer gruff voice repeated Leo's own thoughts.

"I'm going in then. Worst case, we take out some of their communications."

"_Careful! Could be a trap. If it is, you get out of there, Leonardo, you hear?"_

Oddly touched by the order – for it was an order – Leo found himself thinking that even if it did go wrong, he didn't regret anything.

"Copy that."

Aiming for the spikes on the crown, Leo fired the hook and got a good grip. Jumping away, he swung around to the back of the head and allowed himself to be wired up. Reaching the top, he grabbed hold of a spike and pulled himself up.

Standing tall, he took a moment to look at the city they were risking their lives for, the tails of his mask swirling in the wind. The battle was still going strong, he could easily tell even from a distance. The city was burning, black smoke rising from several streets and he knew that there was still plenty of fighting soldiers on both sides. Aircrafts were still patrolling the perimeter, but luckily not participating in the attacks themselves. The odd movie inspired weaponry and animals he had acquired had luckily somewhat backfired. On his way there, he'd noticed the army had been quick with tranquilizers and even if the robots were trickier, they were still big, slow and heavy. Their army had found ways to deal with them. What it really came down to was soldier vs soldier. He had a feeling the reason for that was that Malvir wasn't aiming to destroy New York itself, but only to submit every human to his rule.

As if that wasn't bad enough.

Looking around the smooth surface, Leo's hope for a nice little trap door was squashed. He'd have to go through a window in the side. He let out an involuntary sigh. He should have realized it wasn't going to be easy. He'd have to go in, guns blazing immediately and count on his training to allow him to react fast enough for whatever was waiting inside.


End file.
